Winter's late tally sends Eagles to seventh-straight victory

Dylan McIntosh scored four times -- his fourth straight game with three or more goals -- as the Shooting Eagles edged the Grizzlies 11-10 in ALL West action at Langley Events Centre on Jan. 11. Gary Ahuja photo

While his Shooting Eagles teammates strategized in the locker room and readied for the second half, Garret Winter remained on the floor, taking as many shots as he could.

Winter – who leads the Arena Lacrosse League West Division with 20 assists and is tied for fourth with 31 points – had been held to a single assist in the first half of Saturday’s game at Langley Events Centre against the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies held a slim 6-5 lead through the first 30 minutes against the first place (and unbeaten) Shooting Eagles and Winter was attempting to break in a new stick as his usual one had broken in the first half.

“It was a little bit hard to get used to, so I wasn’t totally comfortable, but the team was lifting me up the whole game,” Winter explained.

And the practice paid off as Winter scored with 3:43 to play, snapping the tie game as the Eagles improved to 7-0 with an 11-10 victory.

“Captain came down, drew a slide, gave me a good pass and the rest is history,” Winter said of the decisive goal, which was set up by captain Coady Adamson.

The Grizzlies – who have lost six in a row and sit with a 1-6 record – led for nearly the entire first half before the Shooting Eagles offence finally found its stride in the third, striking for four goals in a span of 3:08 to take their first lead at 9-6. Undeterred, the Grizzlies battled back to pull even early in the fourth quarter, setting the stage for Winter’s heroics.

“I felt the whole game, we were playing well; we were getting chances. We knew if we stayed consistent, our time was going to come,” Winter said, also crediting Grizzlies goaltender Christian Del Bianco, who finished with 55 saves as his team was outshot 66-53.

Along with their stellar goaltending – Del Bianco had an .833 save percentage – the Grizzlies made the Shooting Eagles pay for their penalty troubles as they struck six times with the man advantage. They also added a short-handed goal and two in transition, meaning the Eagles allowed just one goal during set five-on-five play.

Shooting Eagles coach Adam Smith said that is the message to his team.

“We have to stay out of the box. If we are not in the penalty box and holding teams to one goal five-on-five, it is a heck of a lot easier to play lacrosse. You can’t keep taking penalties and thinking you are going to keep winning games,” he said.

Winter – who was the third star with a goal and three assists – had his four points matched by first star Dylan McIntosh, who scored four times in the victory. Mark Yingling (2-1) and Jake Young both scored twice with Dylan Lacroix and Keegan Kozack finishing with a goal and an assist apiece. Doug Porter and Declan Fitzpatrick finished with three and two helpers, respectively.

Goaltender Brody Harris made 43 saves.

Dennon Armstrong was the second star for the Grizzlies following his three goals and five games, with Kyle Brunsch also registering a hat trick. Nash Moog scored twice with Pearson Willis (1-2) and Noah Buchan rounding out the scoring.

UP NEXT: Week 8 of the ALL West returns to Langley Events Centre on January 18 with the Grizzlies (1-6) facing the Sea Spray (2-5) at 1:00pm before the Black Fish (4-3) and Shooting Eagles (7-0) put their win streaks on the line at 4:00pm.

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