The Maple Ridge Burrards finally put their full roster on the floor, and are in second place in the Western Lacrosse Association, after a two-win week.
Ridge beat the Salmonbellies 7-4 on Thursday in New Westminster, then downed the Burnaby Lakers 12-8 Sunday at Planet Ice.
“The defence played well, and our goaltending was top-shelf,” said head coach Chris Gill.
Rookie goaltender Frankie Scigliano is living up to expectations, stopping 46 of 50 shots in New West. He was selected the game’s first star.
Gill said Scigliano had an added incentive against New West. Firstly, he finished his junior lacrosse career there, and secondly because the ’Bellies had the second overall pick in the entry draft, and passed on one of their own top prospects.
Scigliano fell to the delighted Burrards, who snapped him up with the third pick.
In his first four WLA starts, Scigliano has gone 3-1, and has a league-leading save percentage of 0.850.
“He is what we expected he was going to be – an unbelievable goalie with a bright future,” said Gill.
Last year’s WLA scoring leader Curtis ‘Superman’ Dickson scored twice in his return to the lineup on Thursday.
But it was Riley Loewen who led the Burrard offence, as he scored three goals, including the game winner, and added an assist.
Spencer Evans and Andrew Murphy also scored.
Gill loved his team’s effort against Burnaby at home Sunday, in that they came out gunning and scored the first three goals.
Dickson had knocked any rust off, and was back to his old self against the Lakers, scoring three goals in a six-point effort.
Connor Goodwin also scored a hat trick. Other scorers were Ben McIntosh, Daniel Amesbury, Spencer Evans, Colton Porter, Jarrett Davis and Riley Loewen.
Gill said his entire defence has been good, and said Zac and Colton Porter are bringing a lot of energy.
“They just never stop,” he said. “And Garrett McIntosh is just a beast back there. He looked really good in the second game.”
Amesbury and Dayne Michaud both dropped the gloves, padding their team’s league lead in penalty minutes, which is 237 minutes over eight games.
Gill said his team is playing tough, not dirty, but is giving away too many power plays.
“It’s definitely a concern – we don’t want to be the most penalized team in the league.”
The Burrards are in second place in the WLA with a 5-3 record, and no team beneath them is better than .500.
It’s a big weekend coming up for the Burrards. They are at Burnaby’s Bill Copeland Arena on Friday night at 7:45 p.m. for a rematch with the Lakers.
On Sunday at 6:45 p.m. they will host Victoria, who have been near perfect so far this season, with six wins and a tie in seven outings. The coach said the WLA has great parity, and teams have to be ready for every game, but this is a challenging weekend schedule.
“It doesn’t get any tougher than that.”