Playoff preview: Thunder set to battle Burrards

It will be the Golden Ears Bridge battle as the Langley Thunder clash with the Maple Ridge Burrards in the first round of the Western Lacrosse Association playoffs.

The two teams – who were separated by one point in the regular season – are set to square off in a best-of-five semi-final series which begins August 8.

The Burrards (9-9, 18 points) hold home-floor advantage over the Thunder (8-9-1, 17 points) meaning they will host Games 1 and 3 (August 8 and 12, both at 7:00pm) with Game 2 set for Langley Events Centre. If necessary, the Thunder would host Game 4, but the final game would be back at Maple Ridge’s Cam Neely Arena.

During the regular season, Langley won the season series 2-1 with Maple Ridge prevailing 16-9 on June 2 before the Thunder bounced back with a 10-8 win on June 5 with each team winning on their home floor. The final meeting was back in Maple Ridge on June 16 with Langley securing the season series with an 18-11 victory.

Chase Scanlan has led the Thunder offence with 36 goals, 38 assists and 74 points in 16 games, with all three statistics leading the team. He was also third in the league in both goals and points and tied for fourth with 4.8 points per game.

Joining him on the right-side is Robert Church who managed 25 goals and 48 points in just 10 games, leading Langley with 4.8 points per game. He was also named a WLA First Team All-Star.

Langley’s left side is anchored by Charles Scanlan (16 goals, 35 assists for 51 points in 17 games), Clay Scanlan (23 goals, 24 assists for 47 points in 17 games) and captain Connor Robinson (12 goals, 24 assists for 36 points in nine games).

Among all WLA players who scored more than 20 goals this past season, Clay Scanlan’s .303 shooting percentage was tops while Church was second at .272.

On defence, Tyler Sceviour, Graydon Bradley, Trent Kellner and Matt Abbott are expected to key the back end. Abbott went 188-120 on face-offs, a .610 save percentage.

In net, call-up goaltender Caleb Khan has played the last eight periods for Langley and the 17-year-old has shown well with an 8.71 goals against average and an .840 save percentage.

The Burrards placed two players on the WLA all-stars teams with defender Isaac Ngyou making the first team while goaltender Brandon Humphrey was named to the second team.

Humphrey led the WLA in total saves with 703 and was second in save percentage at .829 with an 8.86 GAA, which was third. He was in goal for all nine of Maple Ridge’s victories.

Offensively, Ryan Jones led in assists (45) and points (69) while Dylan McIntosh was tops in goals (34) and tied for second in points (65) alongside Marcus Klarich (26 goals, 39 assists).

By the numbers

Langley was tied for fourth in goals per game with 9.0 (162 goals) while Maple Ridge scored 158 goals, an average of 8.8, which was sixth. Defensively, the Burrards were second among the seven teams, allowing 9.0 goals per game with the Thunder at fifth at 9.61.

The special teams favour the Thunder as their power play is third (35-for-79, .443) while Maple Ridge was sixth with 36 goals on 102 opportunities, a success rate of .353.

The penalty kill features the two most penalized teams with Maple Ridge short-handed 100 times (allowing 43 goals, a success rate of .570, which is fifth) and Langley allowing 35 goals on 96 chances, a .635 penalty kill rate which was second in the league. The Thunder will need to keep an eye on the Burrards penalty killers as they led the league with 11 short-handed goals. Langley was tied for second with eight goals when a man down.

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