Burnaby Lakers humbled by Salmonbellies

Like The Beatles once wrote, “Got to admit it's getting better, can't get no worse.”

That song lyric pretty much sums up what most Burnaby Laker fans must be thinking after an 18-2 home loss to the New Westminster Salmonbellies Friday night.

The senior A Lakers were completely overwhelmed by the Salmonbellies, who rebounded from their first loss of the Western Lacrosse Association season in a big way.

Jason Jones, who was traded to Queen's Park at the beginning of the season, took it out on his former teammates, scoring five times in a six-point outing in his return to the Bill Copeland Sports Centre.

Another former Laker, Tye Belanger, was near perfect in goal, stopping all but two of 37 shots aimed his way.

Burnaby kept the game close for approximately 10 minutes following newly acquired righthander Coady Adamson's first goal as a Laker but the contest quickly went south for the home team.

Jones sparked a four-goal New West splurge in the latter half of the period to give the visitors a 5-1 lead.

New Westminster outscored Burnaby 6-1 in the middle period and then finished off the Lakers with seven unanswered markers in the final 20 minutes. 

Dane Stevens got the only other Burnaby goal with his eighth of the year off a loose ball in front of the New West goal. Zak Boychuk made 36 saves in the Burnaby cage.

The win kept the Salmonbellies in first place, while Burnaby's record fell to 2-4 along with both Nanaimo and Langley.

The Lakers take on the 1-5 Coquitlam Adanacs tomorrow night in what quickly becomes a critical match-up for the struggling Burnaby club.