SAINTS OPEN ’23 SEASON WITH TWO IMPRESSIVE WINS

by Gary McLaughlin

The 2023 BCJALL season opened with a bang this early May and the PoCo Saints led the way with two wins to start their season. May 3rd at PoCo, the Saints doubled the visiting Burnaby Lakers 12-6 at the Port Coquitlam Community Center. Leading the way offensively for the Saints was newcomer Jadon Jimerson in his first Jr.A game, with 2 goals and an assist, Ty Fisher with 3 assists, Caelan Mander with a goal and a helper, Josh Yachney, a free agent signing from Kelowna also playing his first Jr. A game, and Andrew Cowan , both with 2 goals and an assist. Brayden Laitykicked in with 2 goals while Josh Mills had a goal and a helper. Jordan Meech and Baily Newton both chipped in with single goals. The Saints also received strong defensive games from both Brayden Laitey and Daylin Nair, drawing praise from the coaches and management. Goaltender Ryder Bremner had a solid night stopping 40 of 46 shots thrown his way.

The bigger game was against the always powerful Victoria Shamrocks this past Sunday at the Port Coquitlam Community Center with the Saints prevailing 13 – 12 in overtime. The winning goal came from the stick of Efrain Barreto Jr. with less than 2 minutes remaining. Caelen Mander also scored it OT, after Victoria had pulled ahead 12 -11. The Saints then held off a furious ‘Rocks assault to nail their 2nd win in 2 starts. Saints’ Governor, David Kidd was pleased with all his charges having special praise for the Saints’ transition players who scored a huge 7 goals in transition.

“Anytime you have that many transition opportunities and goals in transition, you are going to be competitive” remarked Kidd. “This is a promising example of the type of game we are hoping to play this year; to be offensively strong and also to be a real threat on the transition. We’re not only moving the ball out efficiently, but we’re also generating scoring chances as well. Our transition players are young, fast and offensively opportunistic. Exactly what we want this season.”

The Saints hit the road for their next two games playing the Langley Jr. Thunder at the LEC this Thursday, before venturing into Ladner to play the Delta Islanders this Saturday, May 13th.

Next home game for your Saints is Friday May 19th when the Delta Islanders visit the Port Coquitlam Community Center.

For great game pictures of the Saints/Shamrocks game click on ‘Fan Zone’ in the top bar of this page and then click ‘Pictures’.

All pictures of the game on site, Instagram and Facebook courtesy of:

Shelly at Bold Photos : boldphotosbyshelly@gmail.com