STRONG THUNDER OPENING FADES TO LOSS AGAINST BURNABY

The Langley Thunder brought three new players and their ‘A’ game to visit the Lakers in Burnaby Sunday evening. They shone for more than half a game. But there was a problem.

Langley held the league leaders (Burnaby is 5-1-1) scoreless for the first 23 minutes – which hadn’t been accomplished so far this season. For the game, the Thunder outshot the Lakers 47 – 38.

The problem was that Langley was aiming shots at a net guarded by Brodie MacDonald – the BC Junior A league’s premier goalie – with a save record of over 87 per cent in 370 minutes this year.

MacDonald has a simple strategy. Essentially, he fills the net. Opposing shooters are shown only very, very small corners to shoot at. And they close quickly. In seven games this year, Macdonald’s given up a total of just 35 goals. Last night, to the Thunder he was less than charitable – allowing only one.

It came in the second period from the stick of Reegan Comeault as the Thunder tried to convert their strong defensive showing into opportunities for the offense. The opportunities were there – 47 times -but MacDonald also was there on 46 of them.

The Thunder also demonstrated solid discipline in the first two periods – during which they were assessed just 6 minutes in penalties while the host Lakers went to the box for 16 minutes – almost three times as many.

Early in the second period, the game took a dramatic turn. First, Burnaby broke Graham Chandler’s shutout to take a 1 – 0 lead. Moments later, the Lakers took a penalty during which they scored two short-handed goals.

The Thunder attack on Brodie MacDonald continued and featured debut performances by US collegiate additions Andrew Bromley of Surrey, and Providence College and newcomers Eric Newman and Caldwell Rohrback both of St. Lawrence University in upstate New York.

Slowly, however, the complexion of the game began to change – and the two teams racked up a combined total of67 minutes of penalties in the last period alone. Final: Burnaby, 7 – Langley, 1.