Burnaby crease man leads Burrards to Mann Cup

When Riley Loewen scores big the Maple Ridge Burrards win.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="400"] Riley Loewen of Burnaby scored 21 playoff goals for the Maple Ridge Burrards. Times Colonist photo[/caption]

The crafty Burnaby lefthander scored two times and garnered his fifth game star of the Western Lacrosse Association playoffs to help lift the Maple Ridge Burrards to its first championship title following a 10-9 victory at home on Friday.

Loewen tallied 21 goals in the senior A post season, finishing third overall in playoff goal scoring, including a league-high six power-play goals and a chart-topping three counters when shorthanded.

Six of Maple Ridge's wins in 11 playoffs games played came when Loewen counted two or more goals in a contest.

Loewen's 0.309 shot percentage during the playoffs was also the third best among the top-20 league snipers, behind Burnaby's Josh Byrne and Eli McLaughlin.

Maple Ridge upset the defending Mann Cup champion Victoria Shamrocks in six games in the best-of-seven WLA final and Loewen figured promenantly in most of them.

Loewen was Game 3's third star, notching a hat trick in the Burrard's 14-11 overtime win over Victoria.

In Game 5, Loewen potted another three-goal night, scoring two of them in a six-goal Maple Ridge second period to put the Burrards up 3-2 in the series.

In the playoffs, Loewen finished seventh in overall scoring, while averaging close to four points per game.

Against the New Westminster Salmonbellies, Loewen was equally productive, notching 10 goals and placing second in total points with an emphatic 0.409 shooting percentage during the first round of playoffs.

Loewen started the playoffs with a six-point night, including four goals to earn the game's second star in the 13-9 semi-final win over the Salmonbellies.

He took the first star following the 7-6 win in Game 2 with two goals in a four-point outing. In Game four, Loewen helped Maple Ridge to a 3-1 series lead, with a second first star nod and a hat trick in the 10-9 win.

Loewen was taken eighth overall by the Burrards in the 2011 WLA junior draft. Burnaby took two right handers in the draft - Colton Clark third overall and current Laker Scott Jones at six.

Loewen shared a Minto Cup with the Coquitlam Adanacs in 2010 and a season earlier collected 48 goals, including 16 on the power play, with the junior A Burnaby Lakers.

In four junior seasons in Burnaby, Loewen notched eight game-winning goals in the regular season and playoffs.

The Maple Ridge Burrards will take on the winner of the Major League final between Peterborough and Six Nations in the Mann Cup, starting on Sept. 9.