Poised to continue a run near the top of the standings, the Delta Islanders lost twice to opponents near the bottom of the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League.
The Islanders saw their record fall to 3-3 (won-lost), good for fourth place, after falling 8-6 to the Langley Thunder Saturday night at the Sungod Arena in North Delta and losing 10-9 to Burnaby.
For Langley, it was their first win in five games this season. The Lakers triumph over Delta was their second, coming on the heels of a 13-10 win over the Thunder three days earlier.
Against the Thunder, Delta led 2-0 late in the first period on goals by Spencer Bromley and Cody Nass. They led again five minutes into the second period when Mike Donaldson put the home team up 3-2.
Trailing 4-3 after 40 minutes, the Islanders pulled even on a goal by Evan Messenger six minutes into the third period. Langley then scored four times in a four-minute span to open up an 8-4 advantage.
Bromley completed his hat trick late in the game, leaving the Thunder with a two-goal victory.
Sunday night in Burnaby, a week after the Islanders posted a convincing 17-9 decision over the Lakers at the George Copeland Arena, the Islanders again dominated play for 60 minutes.
But a 61-31 edge in shots on goal didn’t lead to a victory. Burnaby led 2-1 and 6-4 at the period breaks and hung on for a 10-9 victory.
Trailing 7-4 early in the third period, the Islanders appeared to have turned the game in their favour with a 5-1 run. Mike Henry tallied twice in a 15-second span, then Jordan Traversy tied the game with 15 minutes to go.
The Lakers regained the lead 8-7, before Jonathan Phillips with his third goals of the game and Traversy with his second scored 84 seconds apart for a brief 9-8 lead.
Despite firing 21 shots at the Lakers’ goal to just 10 by the home side, the Islanders couldn’t add to their lead. Burnaby tied the game with five minutes remaining and got the winner 66 seconds later.
Nass and Messenger were the other Delta goal scorers. Phillips finished the game with six points, while Nass assisted on four goals for a five-point game.
The Islanders will play two home games at the Sungod Arena this weekend. They play the 5-0 New Westminster Salmonbellies at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday night in a regular season contest, then host the Okotoks Raiders of Alberta in an exhibition clash Monday at 2:15 p.m.
Delta will also play the Langley Thunder next week, visiting the Langley Events Centre Thursday (May 22) at 8 p.m.