Buque backstops Thunder to victory

Goaltender Alex Buque makes one of his 53 saves during the Langley Thunder's 11-5 victory over the Burnaby Lakers in Western Lacrosse Association action at Langley Events Centre on July 15. Ryan Molag photo

Five goals in the opening nine minutes set the tone as the Langley Thunder delivered their most dominant victory of the season, defeating the visiting Burnaby Lakers 11-5 on Wednesday night at Langley Events Centre in Western Lacrosse Association action.

Staked to an early 5-0 lead, Langley improved to 3-11 while Burnaby fell to 4-11.

Connor Watson scored four times while Dante Kulas had two goals and six points as the duo earned second- and third-star honours, respectively.

First-star honours went to Alex Buque, who made his Langley debut and stopped 53 of 58 shots.

“He fit right in with us. He’s a glue guy, been around a lot of teams in the NLL and in this league and he knows how to play,” Watson said.

The victory came five days after a 16-4 loss in Victoria to the league-leading Shamrocks.

“We had a good practice on Monday to get ourselves ready for this game and then we came out firing and good things happened,” said Langley coach Ian Poole.

“We talked about playing one-period games essentially. And we came out, battled hard every period, and it gave us the result we were looking for.”

"We've had a tough start to the season, but tonight, we played a whole 60 minutes," Watson said.

Acquired in the off-season, the four goals were a season high for Watson, who was quick to deflect credit.

“It feels good, but it was my teammates all working for each other, working for me,” he said. “And then just taking my shots when they were open.”

Although not yet mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, Langley is focused on finishing the regular season strong.

“We can’t really worry about what’s behind us,” Poole said. “We just have to put our feet on the floor and compete and battle.”

In addition to Watson and Kulas’ big nights, Max Semple (1-3), Devin Pipher (1-2), Carson Forney (1-1) and Nathaniel Kozevnikov (0-2) also had multi-point games with Ethan Quinn and Jake Govett adding a goal apiece.

Finn Halladay and Tyler Kirkby led Burnaby with a goal and an assist apiece.

The Thunder return to action on Sunday (July 19), travelling across the Golden Ears Bridge to face the Maple Ridge Burrards. Langley's next home game is July 22 against the New Westminster Salmonbellies at Langley Events Centre.

The Langley Thunder lacrosse organization consists of Senior A, Junior A and Junior Tier 1 teams who play in the Western Lacrosse Association, BC Junior A Lacrosse League and BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League respectively. All three teams play their home games at Langley Events Centre.

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