Burnaby makes it a one-game series

The Burnaby Lakers forced an unlikely Game 7 following a 14-12 victory over the Victoria Shamrocks.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="400"] Tyler Digby assisted on seven Burnaby goals in Friday's 14-12 win over Victoria. Garrett James photo[/caption]

Down 3-0 to the league champion Shamrocks in the Western Lacrosse Association best-of-seven semi-final playoff early in the week, the Lakers rattled off three straight wins to knot the series three games apiece at home on Friday.

Rookie Josh Byrne, who was the first star in Burnaby's 10-8 win at home over Victoria that started the playoff comeback, was the No. 1 star again at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre, tallying a hat trick, including the game-winning score from Tyler Digby and Scott Jones at 13:07 of the final period.

Burnaby played catch up for the first two periods, struggling to reduce a four-point deficit on three separate occasions in the middle frame before finally drawing even at 10-10 late in the period on a second goal of the game from Scott Jones.

But unlike the first three games of the series, Burnaby owned the third period for the second consecutive game, outscoring the defending Mann Cup champions 4-1 in the final 20 minutes.

Eli McLaughlin gave Burnaby its first lead of the game, garnering his hat trick with back-to-back goals to start the third, including the Lakers third marker of the game on the power play.

Burnaby received multi-point games from eight individual Lakers in the team's most complete offensive output of the post season.

Robert Church led all Lakers with seven points, including three goals to claim the game's third star. Tyler Digby also netted seven points, all assists. Scott Jones and Jason Jones both had five-point outings. Dane Stevens also had a pair of goals.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200"] Eli McLaughlin was one of three Lakers to tally a hat trick to tie the playoff series with Victoria at 3-3. Garrett James photo[/caption]

Zac Boychuk backstopped the win with his third victory in the Burnaby cage, stopping 38 Victoria shots.

Game 7 of the series will be held on Sunday at the Q Center in Victoria. Game time is 6 p.m.

The winner of the Sunday matchup will take on the Maple Ridge Burrards in the WLA final series.

 To view the game's score sheet, click here: