One game. Winner take all.
The Vernon Tigers and Kamloops Venom will decide the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League championship Tuesday night at Memorial Arena in Kamloops (7:30 p.m. start) after the Tigers forced the deciding game with a 7-6 win in Game 4 Sunday in front of 600 fans at Kal Tire Place.
Vernon led only twice in Game 4. They opened the scoring at 4:19 of the first period when Jordy Barr fired a submarine shot from long range that fooled Venom goalie Matt Hans, and closed the scoring at 17:31 of the second period when Thomas Landels scored his second of the game from a sharp angle from the right side of the net with a shot that went in over the shoulder of Hans.
There was no scoring in the third period, the second time in the series the Tigers blanked the Venom offence for 20 minutes.
“It was a big win, we really needed this,” said Landels. “I think we really worked hard and got back on defence to stop their fast breaks. That’s what won this game for us, that we got back on defence and put the ball in the net tonight.”
Monty Chisholm and Riley Lawryk, shorthanded, gave Kamloops a 2-1 lead in the first before the Tigers’ Eric Reid came around from behind the net and scored shortside over Hans’ shoulder.
Riley Peterson scored on a long-range shot to give the Venom a 3-2 lead before Tigers midget call-up Kael Black picked up a loose ball following a Darnell Hauca save, ran the length of the floor and beat Hans after a series of stick fakes, much to the elation of the partisan home crowd. The goal coming with just 28 seconds left in the period.
The Venom thought they had taken a 4-3 lead 18 seconds later but Lawryk was called for in the crease.
Kamloops built up a two-goal lead two minutes into the middle frame on goals 41 seconds apart from Anthony Matusiak and Peterson.
Jake Pelletier got the Tigers back to within a goal three minutes later with another long range shot from the outside over Hans’ shoulder as the shot clock was winding down.
Colton Boomer restored the two-goal Venom advantage at 5:11 on a breakaway, the recipient of a neat pass from Lawryk in his own end over the heads and outstretched sticks of two Tigers defenders, right into Boomer’s stick.
Cue the Vernon comeback.
For a second straight game, the Tigers refused to quit and scored three goals in 3:52 to take the lead for good.
Landels pulled the Tigers to within a goal at 13:39; Pelletier equalized at 17:00, with Landels netting the game-winner 31 seconds later.
Both goalies did all they could in the third period. Hauca made 12 saves and finished with 35 on the night while Hans made 15 saves, part of his 51-save effort. Hans also chipped in on offence with three assists.
“We couldn’t find a way to score (in the third period), it was as simple as that,” said Chisholm. “It seemed like we were getting good chances but their goalie played pretty good.”
For the second straight game, the Venom let leads slip away against a resilient Tigers squad.
“It seems like we’re up three goals and it seems like every game they come back with a couple of quick ones,” said Chisholm. “It’s been like that the whole series. We need to find a way to stop that. We get a good lead, we just can’t seem to ever hang on to it much longer than few minutes. We have to figure that out.”
Neither team had any luck with the man advantage in what was relatively a tame game. Vernon was 0-5 on the powerplay, Kamloops 0-3.
It’s the second time in the three years the two rivals will play a winner-take-all, fifth-and-deciding game. The Venom – who swept the 2016 final over Vernon – beat the Tigers at Kal Tire Place in Game 5 in 2015. The last two titles for Kamloops have been won on the road.
“We didn’t want to let it (Kamloops winning championship) happen a third straight time in our building,” said Landels. “We really put our heart into this game and we really want to take it to them in their own barn.”
Said Chisholm: “Obviously we wanted to win the banner here tonight, we came in here hoping to do that and we couldn’t get it done. Now it’s back home at Memorial Tuesday night and hopefully we can get it done.”
The Venom had six midget call-ups in their lineup, the Tigers used two.