Scigliano sparkles as Thunder hold Adanacs to one goal

Frank Scigliano made 42 saves on 43 shots as the Langley Thunder defeated the Coquitlam Adanacs 9-1 in Western Lacrosse Association action at Langley Events Centre. Ryan Molag LEC photo

Frank Scigliano was nearly perfect on Wednesday night as the Langley Thunder came through with a much-needed victory.

Scigliano stopped 42 of 43 shots while Dane Dobbie had four goals and an assist as the Thunder defeated the visiting Coquitlam Adanacs by a 9-1 score at Langley Events Centre.

“On my end, usually if you are seeing the ball, usually it is going to go your way, but when you put up a number like that, it is not just yourself; it is the defence: I thought a lot of guys were soaking shots tonight,” Scigliano said.

The victory improved Langley to 9-6 and 18 points in the Western Lacrosse Association standings. The Thunder currently sit in the fourth and final playoff spot, four points ahead of the New Westminster Salmonbellies (7-8) as both teams have three regular season games remaining. The Salmonbellies hold the tiebreaker over the Thunder should the teams finish tied.

Langley sits six points behind first-place Nanaimo (12-6) and four back of both Victoria (11-4) and Coquitlam (11-6) and the Thunder play Victoria twice in the final three games.

“This one is obviously a big one for us; we are chasing a couple of teams late in the season. We are just taking it one game at a time and this was the first one tonight, so it was a good step in the right direction,” Scigliano said.

“They (Coquitlam) have a lot of NLL talent and our young defenders were able to ‘D’ them up. I thought that was a big step for our team tonight.”

“We are all just doing our job out there, playing for the offence. The offence was working really hard for us today and got the job done and got the win,” added the Thunder’s Trent Kellner.

“Our biggest point was just talking, communication up and down, on transition and on defence; I think the boys really pulled together, really made that a point to stick with that the whole three periods.”

Dobbie scored twice in the first eight minutes of Wednesday’s game before Dylan Kinnear made it 3-0 through one period. Chase Scanlan, Tre Mason and Dobbie then added second-period goals for a 6-0 lead through 40 minutes. Dylan Watson finally solved Scigliano at the 2:12 mark of the final frame but that would be the only shot to elude Scigliano. Erik Maas, Mason, and Dobbie then rounded out the scoring.

“Frankie stepped up: one goal against. That is just a monster effort on his part and really it flowed from there. We got good stops early from Frankie, our ‘D’ settled in, and they were on the perimeter pretty much the entire game. An excellent effort all the way around,” said Thunder coach Dave Pym.

“We played a complete game. Offensively we were clicking, doing some things that we wanted to do: moving the ball, keeping it hot, keeping our feet moving, coming over the top and worked hard, coming on and off the floor.”

The Thunder travel to Victoria to face the Shamrocks on Friday (July 29) before a visit to Burnaby against the Lakers next week (August 2) and then a home rematch with Victoria at Langley Events Centre on August 3 (7:00pm).

Game notes:

Scigliano, Dobbie and Mason were the game’s three stars.

Langley’s power-play was 2-for-5 for the game while the penalty kill was perfect on all four Adanacs man-advantage opportunities and scored a short-handed goal.

Dane Dobbie dives for a first-period goal during his team's 9-1 win over the Coquitlam Adanacs on July 27 at Langley Events Centre. Ryan Molag LEC photo

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