The Timbermen had a cold start, the opponent had a hot goalie, and the result was a tepid loss.
The Nanaimo Timbermen were thumped 14-5 by the Langley Thunder in Western Lacrosse Association action on Sunday night at Frank Crane Arena.
The visitors hustled to a 6-1 lead in the first period.
“We’re starting a lot of games slow and picking it up, but we’re behind the eight ball, down by a few goals every time,” said Doug Langlois, T-men alternate captain.
Nanaimo outshot Langley 49-41 but Thunder goaltender Brodie MacDonald was tough to beat.
“He made a bunch of phenomenal saves on us,” said Kaleb Toth, T-men coach. “You’ve just got to keep going at it, you can’t let up, you’ve got to keep shooting the ball.”
The Thunder’s goaltending and opportunistic scoring kept them in control.
“We couldn’t get the momentum going, and we got too far behind even if we would have got it,” Toth said. “We were playing catch-up too much. We’ve got to figure it out and change something.”
Langlois had a goal and three assists and Cayle Ratcliff, Paul Brebber, Blake Kenny and Braden Kmita also scored for Nanaimo.
GAME ON … Nanaimo visits the New Westminster Salmonbellies on Thursday (June 19), then hosts the Coquitlam Adanacs on Sunday at 7 p.m. at Frank Crane Arena.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com