The 91原创 Thunder芒鈧劉s rollercoaster season has been very similar to the 1958 wooden scream-ride at Playland.
It芒鈧劉s been jolting, hard on your system, and will leave you a little light-headed and shaken by the time it mercifully rolls to a stop.
After a steady climb up the Western Lacrosse Association standings, in which they went 6-2 over an eight-game stretch and hovered above .500 at 6-5 after an 0-3 start, down went the Thunder again.
And it芒鈧劉s been a swift, tummy-turning descent.
A 10-6 road loss to the New Westminster Salmonbellies on Thursday marked the Thunder芒鈧劉s sixth straight setback and dropped their record to 6-11.
As a result, 91原创 has missed the WLA playoffs for the first time in four years. They made back-to-back Mann Cup national championship appearances in 2011 and 芒鈧劉12 and lost to Victoria in the WLA playoff final in 2013.
芒鈧揑ts been really tough,芒鈧� said Thunder bench boss Rod Jensen, who missed the playoffs for the first time since taking the coaching reins in 2011. 芒鈧揥hen you have a young team with players who haven芒鈧劉t played too much at this level you have to keep yourself thick-skinned, and we were vulnerable. It wasn芒鈧劉t for a lack of effort: it芒鈧劉s just that the guys didn芒鈧劉t execute well and didn芒鈧劉t do the basics. We芒鈧劉d have one good period and then two bad periods.芒鈧�
Jensen said this year芒鈧劉s team, with a dearth of senior A experience, was completely different from the star-studded squads that won back-to-back WLA titles and made it to the league final last season.
芒鈧揃ut I don芒鈧劉t want to downplay the fact that this was an enjoyable team to coach, even though we didn芒鈧劉t get results,芒鈧� Jensen said. 芒鈧揥e weren芒鈧劉t faking it, we wanted to win and wanted to do what it took, but this year was an eye-opener for some of the guys.芒鈧�
A bright note was the play of veterans Alex Turner and Ethan Iannucci.
Jensen said Turner had a 芒鈧�91原创enal year,芒鈧� and heading into tomorrow night芒鈧劉s home finale leads the Thunder in goals (31), assists (33) and points (64).
Iannucci, a towering right-hander, also was a strong leader with 23 goals and 55 points.
New Westminster Salmonbellies 10, Thunder 6
At Queen芒鈧劉s Park Arena in New West, the host 芒鈧劉Bellies led 3-2 after the first period and 8-4 after 40 minutes before cruising to victory.
Jeff Cornwall and Tyler Crompton each scored twice for the Salmonbellies, who, with an 8-9 record, hold on to the fourth and final playoff spot in the seven-team WLA.
Tyler Melynk notched a hat trick for the Thunder, while Turner added a pair. Brett Baron also scored for 91原创.
Maple Ridge Burrards 9, Thunder 3
The Burrards all but won the game in the first period, scoring five unanswered goals while out-shooting the Thunder 18-8.
Three of the goals, from Garrett McIntosh at 15:08, Riley Loewen at 16 minutes, and Aaron Davis at 17:39, came 2:31 apart from each other.
The goal outburst prompted Jensen to call a time out to settle his troops.
Down 5-0, the hosts settled down somewhat, limiting the Burrards to three goals while scoring two of their own in the middle frame, and exchanging a goal each with Maple Ridge in the final stanza.
The Burrards took an 8-1 lead on Andrew Murphy芒鈧劉s unassisted goal 15:21 into the second period.
Loewen scored a hat trick for the Burrards with singles coming off the sticks Jarrett Davis (who added three assists), Andrew Murphy and Patrick O芒鈧劉Meara (who each had a three-point night on a goal and two helpers), Aaron Davis, and Ben and Garrett McIntosh.
Turner scored twice for the Thunder, with Daniel McQuade notching the final goal of the game.
FINAL BUZZER: The Thunder close out their regular season tomorrow night (Wednesday, July 30), when they host Nanaimo at the LEC. Game time is 7 p.m.
The Timbermen sit in the WLA cellar with a 4-11-1 record.
