The Western Lacrosse Association kicked off their 2025 season Wednesday night as the Langley Thunder hosted the Burnaby Lakers at the Langley Events Centre. The Thunder went 8-9-1 in 2024, finishing third in the league standings. They defeated Maple Ridge in the semifinals before falling to Victoria, who represented the province of British Columbia at the 2024 Mann Cup. Burnaby is coming off a disappointing 5-12-1 season, finishing at the bottom of the standings among the seven teams in the league. Three Lakers players would record hat tricks on this night, but it was not enough as Langley prevailed 13-11.
Langley, Burnaby go blow-for-blow through first two periods
Langley took a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes, with goals from Kyle Brunsch (1:45) and Toru Morimatsu (4:29). Jacob Dunbar got the Lakers on the board at 6:36, but goals from Nathan Lam (7:50) and Jon Phillips (15:12) gave the Thunder a 4-1 lead. However, Burnaby went a a three-goal run to end the period, with two from Silas Richmond (15:36; 17:44) and a marker from Thomas Vela (18:58) tying the game 4-4 after the first period of play.
The second period saw even more scoring, as the teams combined for 11 goals. Connor Robinson (1:34 power play) and Kordell Primus (1:43) put Langley up 6-4. Richmond (6:45) and Vela (8:33) struck back for Burnaby to tie the game at 6-6. Chase Scanlan (9:58) and Phillips (15:15; 16:56) gave the Thunder a 9-6 lead. However, the Lakers responded, with Ben McDonald (17:26; 18:55) and Trevayne Hunter (18:24 extra attacker) to tie the game again, 9-9. Robinson’s second goal (19:20) put Langley up 10-9 going into the third period.
Langley holds on in the third period to open the season with a win
Vela scored his hat trick goal on a power play (1:05) to start the third period, tying the game at 10-10. Nathaniel Kozevnikov (4:18) restored Langley’s lead once again, but McDonald tied the game at 11 with his hat trick goal (16:51). Phillips’ fourth goal of the night (18:08) and Scanlan’s second a minute later gave the Thunder a two-goal edge, and Burnaby had no response.
Phillips (4g, 2a) earned 1st Star of the Game honors, and Scanlan (2g, 4a) took home 3rd Star of the Game. 2nd Star of the Game went to Silas Richmond of the Lakers, who had 3 goals and 4 assists. Burnaby had a 50-49 edge in shots. Thunder goaltender Caleb Khan, who took the team to the WLA Finals last season at just 17 years of age, turned aside 39 shots in net for the win. Keegan Melenychuk stopped 36 of 49 shots for the Lakers in the loss.
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