Eagles rally, slow Sea Spray

Shooting Eagles' Tyson Johnson (#22, right) sends the ball back to a teammate during a first-quarter face-off on March 19 in Arena Lacrosse League West action at Langley Events Centre. Gary Ahuja photo

Mired in a two-game losing streak – they’ve only lost three games all season – Tyson Johnson said his team knew the importance of the task ahead.

Johnson and his Shooting Eagles teammates were out on the floor early, determined to be in the proper mindset for the penultimate game of the Arena Lacrosse League West regular season. The Eagles were already assured of first place but with just the two games to go ahead of the playoffs on March 29, the team wanted to remedy what had ailed them in their two most recent games.

But the Sea Spray were looking to build off their most recent game, an overtime win as the team battles for second place and they jumped out to a 4-1 lead early in the second quarter on Wednesday night at Langley Events Centre.

“The good thing about is we are not easily shaken. We know we can get momentum; we know we can come back from a deficit,” Johnson said.

“(And) I always take that as in invitation to start winning face offs and give the boys opportunities.”

Following the 4-1 goal, Aiden Hindson and Nick Musso scored seven seconds apart – both goals coming off face-off wins from Johnson – triggering a seven-goal run as the Shooting Eagles went ahead 8-4. The Sea Spray would rally in the second half to even the game at 8-8 before the Eagles closed with four straight and a 12-8 victory.

With one regular season game remaining, the Eagles are firmly entrenched in top spot at 10-3 while the Sea Spray sit in third place at 5-8.

Mark Yingling (2-4), Dylan Lacroix (2-2) and Coady Adamson (2-2) paced the offence with a pair of goals apiece while Jake Young, Patrick Corbett, Declan Fitzpatrick and Hindson each had a goal and a helper. Musso and Keegan Kozack also had a goal apiece while Johnson chipped in a pair of helpers, but more importantly, gained his team extra possessions, winning 19 of 24 face-offs.

This marked the fourth straight game Johnson has been dominant on draws as he has won 84 percent (90-17) of his face-offs in that span.

“What is working well is a lot of communication,” he said, adding that daily reps whenever he can – especially with the Black Fish’s Reese Barnes – have proved invaluable.

Brody Harris finished with 29 saves on 37 shots in the Shooting Eagles goal. Lee Jackman was the busier of the two goalies, stopping 45 of 56 shots for the Sea Spray. Offensively Tyler Kirkby paced the attack with a goal and four assists while Adam Dickson scored twice with one helper and Nathan Ma also had a three-point effort on a goal and two assists. Trevayne Hunter, Seamus Bankier, Thomas Jeck and Austin Robinson rounded out the scoring.

UP NEXT: The Grizzlies and Black Fish are in action on March 20 at 7:30pm before the regular season wraps up with a doubleheader on Saturday (March 22). At 1:00pm, it will be the Black Fish against the Sea Spray before the Grizzlies battle the Shooting Eagles at 4:00pm.

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