Sporting their brand-new jerseys, four of five Nicola Valley Thunder lacrosse teams hit the floor for games over the past two weekends.
On April 13, the bantams and midgets hosted their arch-rivals, the Shuswap Outlaws, from Salmon Arm. While the Thunder bantams fell 9-1 to their opponents, the midgets were able to exact a measure of revenge with an 8-4 victory. Isaiah McRae had the lone goal for the local bantam side in the loss, while the midgets got a hat trick from Travis Simon, two goals apiece from Mack Stead and Tom Girard, and a single by Jesse Landerkin in their win.
The following day, the Thunder midgets made it a two-for-two weekend with a convincing 9-1 thumping of the visiting Kamloops Jr. Rattlers. Stead and Oliver Hardy both recorded hat tricks, while Colton Macaulay, Holden King and Parker Finch each scored once. Goaltender Kaelen Lester picked up his second win in net in as many days.
On the same day, the Nicola Valley bantams suffered their second loss of the young season, getting shut out 12-0 by North Okanagan.
This past weekend saw three more home games for Thunder teams.
On Saturday, the midgets (without Stead and Anthony Tulliani, who were away at Jr. B hockey camps) lost for the first time this year, 8-4 to the visiting Penticton Heat. Scorers for the Nicola Valley were Finch and Nicholas Anscomb with two goals apiece.
Sunday’s action saw the Thunder peewees fall 12-3 to the Heat, and the novices take it on the chin, 14-2, against Kamloops. Tallying for the local peewees were Carter Shackelly, Max Graham and Lucas Schmid, while Simon Cisco got both goals in the novice team’s loss.
This coming weekend, the Thunder peewees host North Okanagan on Saturday at noon. Sunday, the peewees and novices both entertain Kamloops at 10:30 a.m. and noon, respectively. All three games are at the Nicola Valley Memorial Arena.
