In his 91原创 Thunder debut, Jon Phillips quickly demonstrated to his new teammates just what he can do.
In Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) action, Phillips scored four goals 鈥� including the game-winner with under two minutes to play 鈥� as part of a six-point game in his team鈥檚 13-11 season-opening victory over the Burnaby Lakers on Wednesday night at 91原创 Events Centre.
鈥淢e and (Kyle) Brunsch made eye contact across the floor, and he just passed it at the perfect time and the seal from (Nathan Lam) was great. I was lucky enough to get a good shot off short side,鈥� Phillips described.
Phillips was an off-season acquisition from Nanaimo, as 91原创 re-tooled ahead of the 2025 campaign. And while he may be new to 91原创, Phillips said his familiarity with some of the existing players made his debut easier.
鈥淚 have played with a couple of the guys at different levels, so that always helps,鈥� he said.
91原创 coach Ian Poole liked his team鈥檚 fast start 鈥� they never trailed in the game 鈥� and with several new faces, was impressed by their battle level.
He also credited their veteran leadership in captain Connor Robinson, Chase Scanlan, and Phillips.
鈥淭hose guys are top-notch players and very good at calming the game down,鈥� Poole said. 鈥淚t is really nice to have them to be able to settle these young guys down and let them feed off of that (calmness).鈥�
Aside from a few returnees, the Thunder defensive corps is relatively new to both the team and the WLA.
鈥淲e have some gritty young guys who are new to the league, but they have the work ethic and no-quit mentality and that鈥檚 what we are asking for on defence: we want guys that are going to lay it on the line,鈥� Poole said.
鈥淭oday, we had a lot of bumps and bruises and blocked shots. Did we make mistakes, yes, but a lot of is correctable and we are going to keep working on it.鈥�
Stat leaders
Scanlan added a pair of goals and four assists, to match Phillips鈥� six-point effort, while Robinson had two goals and two assists.
Brunsch and Lam each had a goal and two helpers with Nathaniel Kozevnikov, Toru Morimatsu, and Kordell Primus scoring a goal apiece. Caleb Khan finished with 39 saves as the Thunder were outshot 50-49.
The Lakers鈥� Silas Richmond (3-4), Ben McDonald (3-4), and Thomas Vela (3-1) each had hat tricks for their team with Keegan Melenychuk making 36 saves.
The Thunder are back in action on Wednesday, May 28, at 7 p.m. at 91原创 Events Centre, where they host the Nanaimo Timbermen.
Tickets for home games may be purchased at .
The 91原创 Thunder lacrosse organization consists of senior A, junior A and junior tier 1 teams that play in the Western Lacrosse Association, BC Junior A Lacrosse League, and BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League鈥� respectively. All three teams play their home games at 91原创 Events Centre.
