Facing a top team, the junior B Timbermen rose to the challenge – for two periods, anyway.
Nanaimo’s Pacific North West Junior Lacrosse League team lost 11-6 to the Saanich Tigers on Wednesday at the Nanaimo Ice Centre.
For the first 40 minutes the T-men (1-7) were right there with the Tigers (7-2-1), as the game was tied 5-5 late in the second frame. Nanaimo was working hard, winning races to loose balls and might have even held a lead if not for hitting some posts.
“Guys just started really losing focus,” said Mike Haverstock, T-men defender. “We were getting ahead of ourselves, kind of, and making mental errors.”
The Timbermen got careless with the ball, giving the Tigers too much time of possession. With Saanich on the constant attack, Nanaimo was forced into taking penalties.
“A little frustration between everyone, and some miscommunication,” said Matt Rinas, T-men coach. “It’s little stuff that we have to tweak … They’re the second-best team in the league and we were there until we started taking penalties … We took way too many.”
Nanaimo would prefer wins in the standings to moral victories, but they’ll keep trying to move forward with a busy stretch of road games.
“You obviously try and take the positives but never forget about the negatives and try and build on that,” Haverstock said.
Travis Mickelson led Nanaimo's offence with a hat trick, Remy Koch scored twice and Jace House had the other T-men goal.
GAME ON … Nanaimo plays the Westshore Bears tonight (June 7) in Victoria, then has two more weeknight games next week on the road. The team's next home game at the NIC is June 20.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com