Penalty shot tally proves decisive in one-goal win
The Cowichan Valley Pacific Truss and K2 Stone Thunder remains red hot midway through the Bantam A lacrosse season with seven wins in eight games.
The Thunder easily rumbled past the Saanich Tigers 14-3 during Lacrosse Day in the Valley at Kerry Park Arena.
Next up was a game against the Peninsula Warriors. Although the Thunder built a 4-0 lead, the players came out a bit flat and got beaten to loose balls by Peninsula.
But the Thunder kept the scoring pace up in the second and third periods en route to a 10-2 victory. Marc Gagnon was solid in net.
The marquee game came against undefeated Westshore that handed the Thunder a 9-2 trouncing the last time the teams met.
The Thunder wasted no time getting the jump on Westshore with Taylor Martin scoring from Braylon Lumb and Liam Craig. Reid Veuger’s howitzer from Lumb and Ryan Hogg made it 2-0 after the first period.
Lumb added a goal in the second from Martin and Apollo Claxton, but Westshore roared back into a 3-3 tie.
Veuger added his second goal of the game, but Westshore countered with a pair for its first lead. Cowichan tied the game again on Brandon Corby’s scoring shot, with assists to Mathieu Jung and Martin.
Westshore was assessed two quick penalties and precision passing by Colin Winship and Martin enabled Jung to score during the five-on-four portion of the power play.
Westshore pulled its goalie with less than a minute left, but received a penalty for too many men. That called for a penalty shot and Martin scored what turned out to be a crucial goal with nine seconds remaining.
Westshore came right back with a goal three seconds off the faceoff, but Cowichan won the following draw and held on for the 7-6 win.
Cowichan goalie Claxton stood on his head, making many key saves against his former teammates.
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