Burnaby Bounces Back, Beats Coquitlam

"Muffler" Mike Kostiuk

"Muffler" Mike Kostiuk was formally introduced to box lacrosse when he attended a New England Black Wolves game on a whim in 2016. Instantly hooked, he has since become an avid follower of the National Lacrosse League. Following the postponement of the 2019-2020 NLL season, he was offered the chance to share his wealth of statistical knowledge and unique insights with the lacrosse community at large. He cheerfully accepted, and covers NLL, PLL, WLA, and Major Series Lacrosse for the network.

The Burnaby Lakers hosted the Coquitlam Adanacs at Bill Copeland Arena Friday night as the first week of the 2025 WLA season continues. The Lakers fell 13-11 to Langley on Wednesday in the season opener. The Adanacs open their 2025 season with much higher expectations after finishing 7-10-1 and missing the playoffs the previous year. Coquitlam’s hopes were boosted with the return of goaltender Christian Del Bianco; however, he would be outdueled this night by Burnaby netminder Keegan Melenychuk as the Lakers won 7-6 to even their record at 1-1.

Second period run puts Burnaby in front

Jalen Chaster opened the scoring for the visiting Adanacs at the 6:36 mark of the first period. Thomas Vela, who had a hat trick in Wednesday’s loss to Langley, responded for Burnaby on the power play (7:59). Coquitlam retook a two-goal lead, with Dennon Armstrong (9:57 power play) and Tyler Kirkby (14:10) each finding the back of the net. Ben McDonald struck back for Burnaby (16:35) cut the lead to 3-2 after one period of play.

Jordan Roberts (0:38) opened the second period with a goal to restore Coquitlam’s two-goal edge. Burnaby responded with a four-goal run, started by Trevayne Hunter (1:31). Silas Richmond followed with a pair (8:04 power play; 15:20), then Tommy Roberston (17:01) put the Lakers up 6-4. Brett McIntyre scored with 32 seconds left to cut Burnaby’s lead to 6-5 going into the third period.

Burnaby locks it down in third period for first win of season

McDonald scored his second goal of the game (3:46 third period) to push Burnaby’s lead back to two, 7-5. Coquitlam continued to press, firing 18 shots in the period, but could only manage a second goal from Chaster (16:34) as Lakers netminder Keegan Melenychuk stopped 17 in the period to seal the victory.

Melenychuk was named 1st Star of the Game, turning aside 36 of 42 Adanacs shots. Vela (1g, 4a) earned 2nd Star honors, and Del Bianco took home 3rd Star of the Game, making 41 saves. Coquitlam will host Victoria Saturday night, while Burnaby travels next Friday to face the defending champion Victoria Shamrocks.