It wasn’t pretty, but the Cowichan Valley Thunder beat the Nanaimo Timbermen in a Pacific Northwest Junior B Lacrosse League contest at Kerry Park Arena on Saturday.
“It was an ugly game,” assistant coach Traves Black said after the 14-9 victory.
The T-Men never stood a chance as Cowichan jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first period, so they turned their attention to trying to get Cowichan players off their game.
“They were asking our guys to fight right the first period,” Black said.
At the same time, the Cowichan players realized they had a chance to pad their own stats and got a little selfish.
“It was out of hand,” Once we were up 6-0 in the first four minutes, it was discipline. Everyone wanted to score. Instead of playing a team game, they got too individual.”
Black noted a specific example of a Cowichan player essentially throwing the ball away when his team could have retained possession with the shot clock turned off.
“At the end there, we were trying to kill a penalty,” he said. “Four minutes left, the guy takes a shot. They were thinking of themselves instead of the team.”
Cowichan led 6-2 after the first period and 12-4 after the second, then managed to hold off a Nanaimo surge in the third.
Black felt that if his team had played their best the whole game, it wouldn’t have been as close.
“It’s a matter of staying disciplined,” he said. “Keep out of the penalty box.”
Speedster Taylor Martin was phenomenal for the Thunder at both ends of the floor, scoring seven goals and setting up another.
“Taylor lit it up, playing defence,” Black said. “No one could catch him. He just blows by them.”
Brandon Brown scored twice and had one assist, while Jacob Taylor notched a pair of goals in the first period. Team captain Tyson Black had a goal and five helpers, Jaeden Ashbee had a goal and two assists, and Liam Clinging also had a single.
Coach Black wasn’t handing out too many accolades after the win.
“We just got too many guys who wanted to do stupid things,” he said. “There’s not much you can get out of these games.”
The Thunder will visit Westshore on Thursday, followed by two more home games at Kerry Park, against Nanaimo again on Saturday and Saanich next Tuesday.