It was a Game 7 heartbreak for the 91原创 Thunder in the Western Lacrosse Association finals.
Facing the top seed New Westminster Salmonbellies on Tuesday night, Aug. 29, before a sold-out crowd at Queen鈥檚 Park Arena, the Thunder season was silenced, falling 12-7 to lose the best-of-seven championship series four games to three.
With the victory, the Salmonbellies will now host the Six Nations Chiefs in the Mann Cup championships next month.
鈥�(The difference) was Higgins; he was the MVP for a reason. He had one heck of a series and goals were hard to come by,鈥� said 91原创 coach Curt Malawsky, referencing New Westminster goaltender Zach Higgins, who was presented the WLA playoffs most valuable player award.
鈥淲e had some quality, quality chances and good looks, but (New Westminster) finished their chances when they needed to. Hats off to them, they deserved to win and are a good representative for the West.鈥�
Higgins finished the seven-game series with an .844 save percentage and for the two playoff series, he sported an 8.08 goals against average and an .832 save percentage.
鈥淲e ran into a hot goalie. Higgins played well and he was the MVP of the playoffs for a reason. We were getting our looks, it wasn鈥檛 like we weren鈥檛 creating opportunities for ourselves, but he had a heck of a series. We just ran into a brick wall,鈥� added 91原创 captain Connor Robinson.
Game 7 began great for the Thunder as Curtis Dickson scored on the opening shot; but New Westminster responded with three straight for a 3-1 lead at intermission.
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The second period saw Dane Dobbie score twice in the opening 95 seconds to tie the score at 3, but the 鈥楤ellies were able to pad their lead to 8-5 and then tack on another pair of goals early in the third for what became an insurmountable lead.
Dobbie led the Thunder with four goals while Dickson (1-3), Robert Church (1-2) and Chase Scanlan scored once each. Robinson finished with a pair of assists.
Will Malcom led New Westminster with four goals and seven points, Mitch Jones added two goals and five points, Haiden Dickson potted a pair and Anthony Malcom (1-1), Brandon Goodwin (1-1), Kevin Crowley and Patrick Shoemay each scored once.
Higgins finished with 40 saves on 47 shots while Frank Scigliano made 48 saves on 60 shots. For the post-season, the Thunder goalie sported a WLA-best .839 save percentage and was second with an 8.15 goals against average.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 get to Game 7 if it is not for Frank Scigliano,鈥� Malawsky said of the team鈥檚 goaltender and MVP all season long.
