After pushing the defending Mann Cup champion Peterborough Lakers to double overtime just one night earlier, the Maple Ridge Burrards dropped a one-sided affair Saturday, losing 10-1 and now find themselves down 2-0 in the national championship series.
If the Burrards have any hopes of winning the Mann Cup, they’re going to need an effort that resembled their opening game performance and hope Saturday’s showing was just a letdown after falling 14-13 in Game 1.
Burrards’ head coach Rob Williams said he felt the referees missed some early calls that disrupted any flow to the game for his team. However, he said it’s no excuse for his team’s lack of composure.
“We had a discussion in the dressing room after the game, and I told them they need to pay attention to things we could control.”
He said he expects the team will have a much better effort for game three and will come out strong and play like the team he knows they are.
Despite jumping out to the lead in the first period, the Burrards were never in the game, finding themselves on their heels for most of the night.
Mike Mallory opened the scoring for Maple Ridge eight minutes and 37 seconds into the opening frame, with Ben McIntosh and Dan Taylor picking up the assists. But that was the lone highlight on a night where the Burrards were clearly gassed.
In the span of two minutes and 19 seconds, the defending Mann Cup champions buried any hopes the Burrards may have had of evening the series. Lakers forward Holden Cattoni connected on a pass from linemate Shawn Evans at the 10:15 mark to tie the contest at 1-1.
With Burrards’ Zack Porter off for Roughing, Cattoni put the Lakers ahead for good just 1:15 seconds later. The Lakers keep up the pressure, scoring again just under a minute later to extend their lead to 3-1 with 7:30 seconds left in the period.
The final nail in the coffin came only four seconds later when Jake Withers of the Lakers scored an unassisted marker to make it 4-1.
The Lakers outshot the Burrards 19-11 in the first frame.
The onslaught continued in the second period as the Lakers outshot the Burrards 23-13 and ran found the back of the net four times to make it 8-1.
A cleary frustrated Burrards team couldn’t muster any offense in the third, giving up a pair of goals to fall behind 10-1.
The final shot total was 61-31 in favour of the Lakers.
The Burrards did, however, dominate the parade to the penalty box in the final frame. The refs assessed 13 penalties against the Burrards in the third, with Owen Barker being tossed 8:23 in the third after his second major of the game.
The Burrards Travis Irving was thrown out with just under five minutes left in the third after a dust-up with Bryce Sweeting. There were a total of 137 minutes in penalties handed out in the chippy affair.
Asst Coach was ejected from the game, without having said a word to the referee!! Unbelievable!!!
— Maple Ridge Burrards (@Burrardslax) September 9, 2018
Cattoni finished the night with three goals and a helper to lead the Lakers. Shawn Evan chipped in with a goal and two assists.
The Burrards will get a well deserved day off on Sunday trying to rally on Monday, Sept. 10 for game three. Game time is 5 p.m. (PST)
The Burrards can look no further than across the floor to see a road team clawing back to win the Mann Cup. The Lakers dropped the opening two Games to New Westminister last fall, before rattling off four straight wins to grab the national title.
