Lakers lose at home

The  Burnaby Lakers dropped their first home game 12-10 to the Maple Ridge Burrards.

Burnaby gave up a 4-3 first-period advantage and was forced to play catch-up for the remainder of the Western Lacrosse Association contest at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre on Friday.

Arguably, the Lakers deserved the result they got. Burnaby, despite playing without a handful of regulars, allowed Maple Ridge four goals on the extra man and on too many even-strength occasions let the Burrards get quality scoring opportunities too easily.

The Lakers rallied to tie the match three times through the middle frame but on each occasion the Burrards managed to reply in relatively short order.

Burnaby tied the game 8-8 on Tyler Digby's hat trick marker in the opening minute of the final period but the home side fell behind by two goals following Owen Barker's shorthanded tally six minutes later. Digby led all Lakers with five points.

Ontario import Matt Spanger scored his first WLA goal, tying the score in the final minute of the second frame on an unassisted transition counter.

Zac Boychuk suffered his second loss of the season and has so far yet to find the consistency, despite a 39-save performance against Maple Ridge, that made him goalie of the year in 2016.

Jason Jones had his best point outing of the season in the loss, garnering five points on a goal and four assists to put him second overall in total points and helpers at this point in the season.

Eli McLaughlin potted a pair of goals for Burnaby, bringing his total tallies to eight.

Next week, Burnaby plays at Langley on Wednesday, June 14 and on Saturday is away to Coquitlam.