The Maple Ridge Burrards, led by seven-point nights from Marcus Klarich and Tyler Pace, beat the Burnaby Lakers 12-7 on Friday night, snapping the Lakers’ three-game win streak. The win improves the Burrards to 8-4 and keeps them just two games behind first-place Victoria with four weeks left in the regular season. Burnaby falls to 4-8 on the year, missing an opportunity to pull even in the win column with Coquitlam, Nanaimo, and New Westminster for third place. The Lakers have a home-and-home set with Coquitlam in Week 8, playing Tuesday in Burnaby and Saturday in Coquitlam. The Burrards also have two games in Week 8, playing at New Westminster Thursday and at Nanaimo Saturday.
Newly-acquired forward Jon Phillips kicked off the scoring for the Burrards with a power play goal (1:17). Burnaby responded with a four-goal run, starting with Andrew Cowan (2:26) and Ben Stewart (2:34) scoring eight seconds apart. Ryan Favaro (5:49) and Jake Young (6:53) followed for a 4-1 Lakers lead. Maple Ridge cut the lead to one on goals from Riley Loewen (13:09) and Tyler Pace (18:43). Favaro scored his second on a power play (19:06), but Pace answered with his second (19:56 extra attacker) to keep it a one-goal game, 5-4 Burnaby, after one period.
Burrards pull away in 3rd, stay 2 games back of Victoria for 1st place
Favaro (2:31 second period) pushed Burnaby’s lead back to two before goals from Nathan Miller (4:07) and Pace (5:04) tied the game 6-6. Young netted his second 20 seconds later to put the Lakers up 7-6, but Marcus Klarich (9:59) tied the game again, and Loewen’s second goal (11:28) gave Maple Ridge the lead for good. The third period was all Burrards, as Drew Andre (2:21), Klarich (5:46), Dagan Carlson (6:21) and Loewen (18:23) continued to extend the lead while the Burnaby offense faltered the rest of the way.
Klarich (2g, 5a) and Pace (3g, 4a) were named 1st and 2nd Star of the Game for the Burrards, respectively. Finn Halladay (5a) received 3rd Star honors for the Lakers. Loewen also had a hat trick for the Burrards, and Jack Kask stopped 33 of 40 shots, holding Burnaby scoreless for the final 34 1/2 minutes of the game. Marc Rippberger saved 45 of 57 shots in the loss for the Lakers.
