The Langley Thunder completed a first round series sweep of the Burnaby Lakers in the WLA semi-final action giving them their second straight League championship.
The Lakers did not go quietly in the deciding game as they gave the Thunder all they could handle in a narrow 11-10 loss.
They took Langley down to the final seconds before the Thunder could celebrate the victory and the 4-0 series win. Iannucci had a four (4) point game to seal the deal with the victory and now it’s a waiting game as they play the winner of the Coquitlam-Victoria series.
McCready and Reinholdt opened the scoring for the Thunder a short 3:52 apart giving the visitors a 2-0 lead.
The Lakers offense now came to life cutting the lead to 2-1 on a goal by McFetridge with 4 minutes remaining in the opening period.
The thunder returned the favour as Iannucci scored the first of his three goals on the night giving Langley a 3-1 lead at the intermission.
Shots through one were tied at 11
The second saw the Lakers scored four straight taking a 5-3 lead over the Thunder in a span of 10 minutes.
Thunder players Steve Fryer and Dane Stevens cut the lead to 4-2 in a span of 1:38 only to be followed by Moore’s marker at 4:14 to narrow it to a one goal game. Jones replied for the Lakers with back to back goals to gave the Lakers a 5-4 lead by 11:30 of second.
The defending champs scored three straight in a span of 2:31 as Jackson netted his first of two at 13:06 to tie the game at 5.
Van Beek’s unassisted tally gave them the lead 6-5 a short 55 seconds later only to be followed by Jackson’s second of the period to extend their lead to 7-5.
The Lakers tied the game before the period was over on goals by Tinning and Quinton 57 seconds apart.
The Lakers took a 7-6 lead heading into the final period and shots through two periods were 29-28 for Langley.
Ratcliff tied the game 7-7 a short 50 seconds in on the PP, but again the Lakers went up 8-7 on a goal by Quinton giving him two on the night.
Cook tied it 8-8 and Williams put the Lakers up 9-8 for the Lakers a short 55 seconds later.
Langley scored three straight off the sticks of MacGrotty and Iannucci got his second on the night giving the visitors a 11-9 lead.
The Lakers made it interesting in the final minute as they were awarded a penalty shot (PS) with only 11 seconds remaining; which they converted as Quinton cut the lead to 11-10.
They managed to get the ball back with 6.5 seconds which gave them a chance to tie the game but were denied the opportunity.
The Thunder was able to complete the sweep with the final shots being 46-44 for the Lakers.
Goalkeeper Steve Fryer (Thunder) finished with 36 saves for the Langley victory while Dan Lewis (Lakers) completed the game with 33 saves in the loss.
This was a strong year for the club in their first visit to the post season in four years for the club and has a bright future with a young club and some new talent coming in the draft next year to get stronger as a organization.
In the other series the Coquitlam Adanacs are in Victoria on Friday to take on the Shamrocks in game three of their semi-final series up 2-0 game time is 7:45pm and game four goes on Sunday at the Sports Centre in Coquitlam at 7:45pm.
