It was a Game 3 the Burnaby Lakers, trailing 2-0 in the best-of-seven series, knew they couldn鈥檛 afford to lose.
And they didn鈥檛.
The top-seeded Lakers climbed back into their Western Lacrosse Association semifinal series against the fourth-seeded Victoria Shamrocks with a 13-4 holiday Monday victory at Bill Copeland Arena in Burnaby.
鈥淭hey were a little more desperate, and they came out and put us on our heels early,鈥� said Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes.
It was 1-1 in the first period before four straight Burnaby goals made it 5-1. Victoria brought it to 5-3 early in the second period before eight consecutive Burnaby goals buried the Shamrocks.
鈥淵ou learn more in defeat than you do in victory. We will park this loss, learn from it, and get ready to play in two days [Game 4 is Wednesday at 6 p.m. at The Q Centre in Colwood],鈥� said Heyes.
鈥淲ednesday is a huge game. . . . we have a chance to go up 3-1 . . . and we will lean on our great fans to lift us as we often do.鈥�
Sheldon Burns, Joe Resetarits, Josh Fagan and Paul Brebber scored for the Shamrocks, who came into the post-season after being denied their quest for a fifth-consecutive WLA regular-season title.
Tyler Digby and Cam Milligan scored three goals each, while Robert Church had two goals and five assists for the Lakers, who won their first WLA regular-season crown in franchise history, before being surprised by the Shamrocks in the first two games of the semifinal playoff series.
Eric Penney made 34 saves for the Lakers, while Aaron Bold and Cody Hagedorn combined to make 35 saves for Victoria.
The other WLA first-round series, between the second-seed Maple Ridge Burrards and third-seed New Westminster Salmonbellies, is tied 1-1. Game 3 goes tonight in Maple Ridge.
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