The Nanaimo Timbermen threw everything they had at the Coquitlam Adanacs, and it eventually resulted in a win.
The Coastal Windows Timbermen senior A lacrosse team defeated the Adanacs 7-4 on Sunday night at Frank Crane Arena.
The T-men put one of their best-ever lineups on the floor, including new addition Cory Conway, but it took some time for them to get to Adanacs goalie Nick Rose.
“We hit a lot of posts but he was playing really good angles and I think we kind of wore him down and wore their team down,” said Kaleb Toth, T-men veteran.
Conway, facing his former team, hit a couple of posts in the first period and dished two assists as Nanaimo held a 2-1 lead. The score stayed that way until the last five minutes of the second, when the visitors scored three times to take a 4-2 lead.
“I said to them, ‘It’s not time to panic,’” said Art Webster, Timbermen coach. “‘We’ve got to keep going to the net, we’ve got to stay with the game plan, don’t give them any transition and the ball’s going to go in the net for us.’”
Conway made it 4-3 early in the third with a transition goal, Toth tied the game soon after and the Timbermen took over.
“We wanted it more, we worked harder than they did and usually the hardest-working team will win the game,” said Zak Boychuk, T-men goalie. “We went back to our basics tonight and played like we can.”
Webster said Boychuk played his angles well and said the defence kept the shots to the outside and limited Coquitlam’s opportunities.
“On the D end we didn’t give them [shot-clock] resets,” said the coach. “As much as possible, we tried to take those away.”
Scott Ranger led Nanaimo with a hat trick and Kyle Hofer and Cody Bremner were other scorers. Boychuk made 41 saves as the T-men outshot the Adanacs 47-45.
“It felt great getting the win against the old team; it was good,” Conway said. “It was a hard-fought win coming back from behind. Everybody was contributing.”
GAME ON … The Timbermen (2-1) play the Langley Thunder (0-2) on the mainland Wednesday (May 30), then visit the Victoria Shamrocks (2-0) on Friday … To read more about Conway, please pick up Thursday’s issue of the News Bulletin or visit www.nanaimobulletin.com/sports on Wednesday afternoon.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com