Black Fish power play leads the way

Shooting Eagles' Tyson Johnson is double-teamed by a pair of Black Fish defenders during Arena Lacrosse League West action at Langley Events Centre on March 16. Gary Ahuja photo

First place may be out of reach, but the Black Fish took a huge step towards securing second spot.

The Black Fish scored the game’s first four goals and never trailed, defeating the first place Shooting Eagles 12-10 on Sunday afternoon at Langley Events Centre in Arena Lacrosse League West Division action.

It was a second straight victory for the Black Fish as they improved to 6-6 while the Shooting Eagles lost for just the third time, falling to 9-3 as the regular season winds down with just a pair of games remaining.

“Our offence was really into it: they were making good reads, hitting long passes and they were putting the ball in the net,” said Black Fish coach Rod Jensen, whose team led 4-1, 8-2 and 9-3 before the Shooting Eagles cut the deficit to two, albeit with just 30 seconds remaining.

A big factor in the game was the Black Fish power play – the only one of the four ALL West teams operating below 50 percent – which struck for six goals in the victory. It is now converting on 39 percent of their chances after Sunday’s strong showing.

“Our power play has been weak this year, so it was good to see it break out. Our power play has a tendency to be stationary so (today) we had more movement with our feet which created some space and then we just put the ball in the net,” Jensen added.

The Black Fish also received stellar goaltending from Keegan Okino, as he made 51 saves with his team outshot 61-55, finishing with an .836 save percentage. Offensively, the team was led by Ethan M’Lot’s six points on two goals and four helpers, while Rhys Porteous (3-2) and Connor Watson (3-1) both had hat tricks. Lazlo Henning added a pair of goals with Chase McIntyre (1-2) and Aidan Murphy (1-1) completing the scoring.

Mark Yingling continues to lead the ALL West in goals and points with another hat trick and one assist. He now has 33 goals and 57 points on the season for the Shooting Eagles. Tysen Nielsen potted a pair, with Coady Adamson (1-2), Patrick Corbett, Doug Porter, Brandon Fitzgerald and Declan Fitzpatrick adding one goal apiece.

Tyson Johnson had another dominant game for the Eagles on face-offs, winning an incredible 21 of 22 draws.

Both goaltenders also saw action with each allowing six goals as Colin Jeffrey stopped 15 of 21 and Brody Harris made 28 saves on 34 shots.

UP NEXT: There will be little time to dwell on the week 12 results for any of the teams as all four are back in action with mid-week lacrosse games at Langley Events Centre. On Wednesday (March 19), it will be the Sea Spray against the Shooting Eagles while the next day (Thursday, March 20) sees the Grizzlies face the Black Fish. Both games begin at 7:30pm.

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