Timbermen take Game 3 in OT to extend series

Langley Thunder defender Holden Garlent scored once and was part of a strong defensive effort which held Zach Manns and the Nanaimo Timbermen to eight goals. The Timbermen would win 8-7 in overtime to extend the Western Lacrosse Association best-of-five series on Tuesday night at Langley Events Centre. Ryan Molag LEC photo

Colton Lidstone was the overtime hero as the Nanaimo Timbermen staved off elimination on Tuesday night.

Trailing their best-of-five Western Lacrosse Association semi-final series 2-0 to the Langley Thunder, Lidstone’s goal with 1:04 to play in the 10-minute overtime period stood as the winner as the Timbermen won 8-7 over the Langley Thunder.

The game was played at Langley Events Centre with the series now sitting at 2-1 for the Thunder and shifting back to Nanaimo’s Frank Crane Arena on Thursday (August 10). If necessary, the fifth and deciding game would be at LEC on Monday (August 14).

The Thunder led 2-1 after a period and were ahead 6-3 through 40 minutes before the Timbermen shut the door in the third, holding Langley scoreless the final frame while they scored three straight to extend the game past regulation.

Ethan Ticehurst opened the scoring 1:02 into the overtime period before Curtis Dickson struck for the first Langley goal since late in the middle stanza. That would be it for the offence until Lidstone’s late winner.

“That team (Nanaimo) showed a lot of character to come in here down 2-0 and staving off elimination,” said Thunder coach Curt Malawsky. “Now we will see how much character we have going over there when there is (another) opportunity to close out a series or for them to push it to five.”

Despite the loss, Malawsky liked his team’s effort and battle level.

“The first day I walked in here, I said you have to play the game the right way,” he said. “We battled, we competed, picked up some good loose balls, we took care of the ball when we needed to.”

As for the offensive struggles over the final 30 minutes, Malawsky said that can happen over the course of a game.

“We had some good chances. We hit some pipes (and their goalie) made some good saves,” he said. “It wasn’t like we stood around (firing) from the outside. If you go back and look at it, we had some Grade A chances in the third period and sometimes they go in, and sometimes they don’t.”

Langley’s offence was led by captain Connor Robinson, who had five of his team’s seven goals. This marks the third straight game he has struck for five or more as he has 16 goals in the series. Holden Garlent and Dickson (1+1) had the other Thunder markers while Dane Dobbie finished with six assists.

Frank Scigliano made 50 saves on 58 shots for the Thunder while at the other end, Devlin Shanahan stopped 47 of the 54 shots he faced, including 22 of 23 in the third period and overtime.

Ryan Sheridan led the offence with a hat trick and four points while Lidstone, Jon Phillips and Taggart Clark each had a goal and two assists. Nathan Grenon and Ticehurst had the other goals.

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