ALL West regular season wraps up with Yingling winning scoring race

Mark Yingling sets a screen for teammate Coady Adamson during Arena Lacrosse League West action at Langley Events Centre on March 22.  Yingling finished the regular season with an ALL West-best 67 points while sharing the goal-scoring lead with the Sea Spray's James Rahe as each player had 37 goals. Ryan Molag photo

In what amounted to a playoff preview, the Black Fish rallied to defeat the Sea Spray while the Shooting Eagles edged the Grizzlies as the Arena Lacrosse League West regular season wrapped up on Saturday afternoon.

The Black Fish trailed for almost the entirety of the game at Langley Events Centre, falling behind 4-0 before finally pulling even with just under 11 minutes to play at 12-12. And from there, Aidan Murphy scored the short-handed game-winner (his fourth goal of the game) with Temeke7 Gottfriedsen and Laszlo Henning adding insurance markers.

Connor Watson (2-6) and Chase McIntyre (2-5) led the Black Fish with eight and seven points, respectively, while Murphy (4-1) and Henning (3-2) each netted hat tricks as part of their five-point games in the win.

Steve McKinley added a pair with Cameron Ickert (1-1) completing the scoring. Gottfriedsen and Hunter Aggus each added a pair of helpers. In goal, both Keegan Okino (28 saves on 34 shots) and Darian Claxton (9 saves on 15 shots) saw action.

Tyler Kirkby (4-4), Trevayne Hunter (3-5) and James Rahe (3-3) each had huge games for the Sea Spray offence with Thomas Semple adding the other two goals and Thomas Jeck finishing with a pair of assists. Liam Froese stopped 45 of 60 shots in the Sea Spray goal.

The second game was a battle between goaltenders with both the Shooting Eagles’ Tristan Lomas and Grizzlies’ Ryder Bremner earning recognition as the second and third stars of the game, respectively.

Lomas stopped 40 of 47 shots (.851 save percentage) while Bremner made 46 saves on 54 shots (.852) in the Shooting Eagles’ 8-7 win.

Mark Yingling and Coady Adamson both had a pair of goals and two assists each with Dylan Lacroix adding another two goals and setting up one in the victory. Keegan Kozack (1-1) and Tysen Nielsen completed the scoring for the Eagles.

The Grizzlies were led by two goals and an assist from both Drew Kask and Dennon Armstrong with Erik Forsellius, Garrett Lewis and Toru Morimatsu adding one goal apiece.

REGULAR SEASON LEAGUE LEADERS: Mark Yingling (Shooting Eagles) led the ALL West with 67 points and shared the lead in goals with 37, alongside James Rahe (Sea Spray). Rahe also finished second in points with 60 while his teammates Thomas Semple and Trevayne Hunter were tied for third with 56 points. Kyle Brunsch (Grizzlies) with third in goals with 32.

In the category of assists, Hunter led with 33 followed by Connor Watson (Black Fish) and Yingling, who had 31 and 30, respectively.

Among goaltenders (must have played 35 percent of their team’s minutes to be eligible), Christian Del Bianco was tops with an 10.20 goals against average and an .815 save percentage. He played the second-most minutes of eligible goaltenders (435:29) and was tied for the most saves at 325 alongside the Sea Spray’s Lee Jackman.

Del Bianco did not play after February 8 – though he did serve as an assistant coach for the remainder of the season when his schedule permitted – once he signed his National Lacrosse League contract.

Brody Harris (Shooting Eagles) was second in goals against average (10.33) while Brandon Humphrey (Black Fish) was third at 10.87. In the save percentage category, Humphrey and his fellow Black Fish goaltender, Keegan Okino, were second and third, respectively, at .808 and .798. Okino was also third in total saves with 265 saves.

UP NEXT: All four teams are in action on Saturday (March 29) for the one-game semi-finals. At 1:00pm, it will be the Sea Spray against the Black Fish, while at 4:00pm, the Grizzlies face the Shooting Eagles.

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