Coach Chris Gill wasn’t cutting his team any slack after two straight losses dropped them from second to third in the Western Lacrosse Association.
The Maple Ridge Burrards lost to Coquitlam 7-5 on Saturday.
Coquitlam benefitted from three straight power play goals in the first period.
Defender Garrett McIntosh took a five-minute major for checking from behind, and Coquitlam scored twice.
Gill didn’t want to be critical of the referees, but said “we were shorthanded often in that game.”
Patrick O’Meara and Ben McIntosh each scored twice in Coquitlam, and Jarret Davis had three assists.
“In general, we weren’t sharp as a team,” he said. “Maybe we didn’t think we had to work hard to win it.”
Their previous two games had been blowouts over the Adanacs, by scores of 13-4 and 10-5.
Sunday brought a back-to-back game against Burnaby – a rival for second place, and an 8-7 loss.
Gill didn’t accept that tight scheduling made it a tough matchup.
“If you want to win a Mann Cup, you play back-to-backs.”
Riley Loewen had two goals and four assists, Davis two goals and two assists, and Ben McIntosh three goals and an assist.
Again the Burrards gave up a significant edge in penalties, as they took 21 minutes on nine infractions, compared to Burnaby’s 14 minutes on seven calls.
It was a key loss, because it dropped their record to 8-7-1, for third place, while Burnaby improved to 9-6 and takes second.
With two games left in the regular season, they are in Langley on Wednesday night, for a 7:45 p.m. game, and next Thursday finish the season in New Westminster.
Burnaby has the Island swing – Victoria and Nanaimo this weekend, and finish against Coquitlam.