The Burnaby Lakers and Maple Ridge Burrards met Tuesday night at Cam Neely Arena for their second matchup of the season to start Week 8 in the WLA. Both teams went 1-1 last week, squandering chances to take the driver’s seat in the three-way battle with Langley for the fourth and final playoff spot as the regular season winds down. The Lakers had eight different goal scorers, led by Jacob Dunbar’s hat trick, in a 10-8 win that evened the season series at 1-1. Burnaby improves to 4-9 (8 points; sixth place), while Maple Ridge falls to 4-7-2 (10 points; fourth place tie with Langley).
Lakers get early lead, but Burrards rally in second period
Marcus Klarich got Maple Ridge on the board first (2:40), but the Lakers responded with a four-goal run. Jack Charboneau (5:57), Silas Richmond (9:36) and a pair from Dunbar (6:26; 10:42) gave Burnaby a 4-1 lead. Garret Winter broke the run at 11:58, but Ben McDonald scored a power play goal (14:41) to restore the three-goal edge. Winter scored again at 17:47, but the Burrards still trailed 5-3 after one period.
Jaxon Fridge (4:39) gave the Lakers a 6-3 lead before Maple Ridge began to rally. Payton Cormier (10:35) and Klarich’s second goal (16:28) brought the Burrards within one, 6-5. Kai George scored 13 seconds later for Burnaby, but Winter scored his hat trick goal on a power play (17:27), and Rhys Porteous (18:46) tied the game at 7-7 going into the third period.
Third period run wins it for Lakers
Nearly half the third period elapsed before Dunbar scored his hat trick goal (9:46), giving the Lakers an 8-7 lead. Follow-up goals from Butch La Roue (11:17) and Sam La Roue (17:51) made it 10-7. Kaden Doughty scored late for Maple Ridge (18:04); however, the Burrards could not keep pace with the Lakers.
Dunbar (3g, 2a) was named 1st Star of the Game for the Lakers, and Fridge (1g, 1a) took 3rd Star. Klarich (2g, 3a) received 2nd Star honors for Maple Ridge. Burnaby hosts New Westminster on Friday, while Maple Ridge travels to Nanaimo on Sunday. These teams will meet for the rubber match to close out Week 9 on Sunday 7/20.
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