The old saying ‘It ain’t over until it’s over’ certainly rang true during Monday’s Prince George Senior Lacrosse matchup between the Westwood Pub Devils and the RPR Mechanical/JR Construction Bandits.
After jumping out to a 6-1 lead after two periods, the Devils survived a third period onslaught from their arch-rivals hanging on to a thrilling 7-6 victory.
Scott Anderson rose to the occasion once again for Westwood after potting a hat-trick past Bandits goaltender Liam Miller including the game-winner on a nice individual drive late in the contest.
“I designed that play in my head at the moment, it was a last minute shot and I just got lucky that it went in between Liam’s legs their and it found the right spot.”
The longtime lacrosse veteran warned his team not to get loose with a five-goal edge heading into the third period – unfortunately that was easier said than done.
“We were trying not to let that happen but in this game once you get a little momentum the ball can start to roll in and it’s hard to keep on top.”
Here’s #Devils Forward Scott Anderson on tonight’s 7-6 win against #Bandits in #PGSeniorLAX #cityofpg #sports pic.twitter.com/Zw7Chq71Ry
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) May 15, 2018
As for the 50-year-old Anderson, he seems to have a flair for the dramatic against the Bandits.
In last year’s Dale Rolufs Final series, the Devils were down 2-0 in the best-of-five series only to see Anderson and company storm back to win three straight games and snatch the trophy out of the Bandits hands like a thief in the night.
“That’s the reason you play in the big games – if you are in any type of sport whether its soccer, baseball or lacrosse you want to play at the highest level you can play in the biggest games.”
After an even first period, the Devils netted five consecutive goals against the Bandits including one each on the power-play and shorthanded.
Westwood goaltender Steve Brizan made several key stops in the middle frame, especially while shorthanded and frustrating some of the high end scorers from the Bandits including sniper Drew Doig.
#Bandits can’t buy a goal on man advantage against #Devils. Now trailing 3-1. #cityofpg #sports #PGSeniorLAX pic.twitter.com/zOopSgUuGr
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) May 15, 2018
The Devils (3-2) will now play Matt Rochon and the Co-op Petroleum Stylers (2-2) on Wednesday from Kin 1 at 8PM while the Bandits (4-2) have a week before the play Westwood again on May 23rd.
Next league action is set for tonight (Tuesday) in Quesnel as the Stylers play their first half of back-to-back games against the Crossfire (4-2) at 8 PM.