Thunder wrap up regular season against Victoria

The Langley Thunder look for a season-high fourth straight victory while the Victoria Shamrocks have their eyes on clinching top spot in the Western Lacrosse Association standings as the teams meet for the second time in less than a week.

The contest gets underway at 7:00PM at Langley Events Centre and can be streamed at www.wlalacrosse.com/wlatv

TICKETS

Both teams are playoff bound and the Shamrocks enter the game with a 12-5 record while Langley finds itself a game behind at 11-6. A Thunder victory would also create a three-way tie for top spot alongside the Nanaimo Timbermen.

The Coquitlam Adanacs (11-6) are the fourth playoff team and they conclude their regular season on August 4.

Previous Game

Langley is playing its second game in as many nights and punched their playoff ticket with a 14-8 road victory in Burnaby on August 2. The teams were tied at three early in the second period before the Thunder scored eight goals in the period to take control.

Dane Dobbie led Langley with three goals and seven points and Frank Scigliano stopped 41 of 49 shots.

The Shamrocks were 11-6 winners in their last game on July 31 in Maple Ridge against the Burrards. Marshal King had two goals and six points while Pete Dubenski stopped 48 of 54 shots.

Offence

For the Thunder, Dobbie is second in points per game (5.2) while Curtis Dickson (4.8) is third. Dobbie is also second in goals (36) while Dickson is third in assists with 39. Robert Church (28 goals, 57 points), Connor Robinson (18 goals, 42 points) and Chase Scanlan (26 goals, 41 points) round out Langley’s top five in scoring.

Victoria leads the league in scoring with 13 goals per game thanks in large part to the contributions of brothers Jesse and Marshal King. Jesse King leads the WLA with 97 points and 65 assists and is tied for third (along with his Marshal). He is also tops with 6.5 points per game. The Shamrocks’ Jacob Ruest has 20 goals, and 55 points while Larson Sundown has 26 goals and 51 points.

Goaltending

Frank Scigliano leads all WLA goalies with an 8.14 goals against average and is second with an .836 save percentage as he has played in 13 of his team’s games. Steve Fryer has won both of his starts with a 9.50 GAA and .827 save percentage.

The Shamrocks have split their goaltending duties with Pete Dubenski appearing in 10 games with a 7-2 record, 9.79 GAA and .788 save percentage while Colin Jeffrey has played in a dozen games with a 4-3 record, 9.94 GAA and a .735 save percentage.

Special Teams

The teams boast the league’s top two power plays with Langley checking in at No. 1 (40-for-83, .482) and Victoria at No. 2 (37-for-82, .451). The Thunder penalty kill is tied for second (28 goals allowed on 75 chances, .627) while the Shamrocks are fourth (34 goals on 82 chances, .585). Victoria also has a league-best 14 short-handed goals while Langley is second with 11 goals scored when a man down.

Head-to-Head

The teams have split their previous two head-to-head meetings, both of which were in Victoria. On June 18, the Shamrocks blasted the Thunder 18-7 as Jesse King had a 10-point game while Dubenski stopped 50 of 57 shots. Church and Thomas Vaesen led Langley with two goals apiece.

They also played on July 29 as Langley scored the final three goals to win 13-12 thanks with Scanlan scoring four goals and nine points in the victory while Fryer made 48 saves as the Thunder were outshot 60-45. Marshal King had three goals and seven points.

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