Lazers Can’t Overcome Early Errors, Lose, 4-3

The Lazers got what they hope is a glimpse of their future in the second half of Friday night’s game against the Tacoma Stars.

But the first half served as a reminder of their not-so-distant past as they buried themselves in a hole too deep to dig out of. So, despite a second half that saw them outshoot the Stars, 25-6, the Lazers wound up losing to Tacoma, 4-3, at the Forum.

“We outplayed them in the second half,” Lazer Coach Keith Tozer said. “The shame about it is that they’re in the playoffs and we’re not.” The Lazers were undone in the first half by a pair of defensive lapses and a bad bounce.

The first lapse came less than a minute into the game, when the Lazers turned the ball over in their own end. Prekitook advantage of the miscue, scoring from right in front of the Lazer goal.

In the second period, a Lazer defender, trying to kick the ball back to Lazer goalie David Brcic, had the ball stolen by Ralph Black, who passed out to Cico. Cico gave the Stars a 2-0 lead with an easy shot into an almost open net because Brcic was out of position.

The third goal came when a shot by Gerry Gray bounced off the board and rebounded off Lazer defender Geore Fernandez into the goal for a 3-0 lead.

“When you play a team like Tacoma, you can’t give up three goals,” Tozer said.

Chris Whyte made it 3-1 at halftime, taking a rebound and kicking it through with five minutes remaining in the second period.

But Tacoma came out and scored four minutes into the second half. This goal was quite legitimate, as Rick Davis took a pass from Preki and drilled the ball from the left of the goal.

The Lazers came back with two goals in a span of two minutes. Adam Topolski hit a shot from the right corner, the same shot he had missed moments earlier, to cut the lead to 4-2. Gus Mokalis made it 4-3 when he drilled a 35-footer over Star goalie Joe Papaleo.

But the Lazers were unable to tie the game in the final period, despite a 14-3 shooting edge. For the game, the Lazers took 38 shots to Tacoma’s 18.

“I would have liked an easier game for us,” said Tacoma Coach Alan Hinton, whose team clinched at least a tie for the Western Division title. “We had the chance to kill ‘em.”

“I’m looking forward to the next five games (to end the season),” Tozer said. “But I wish it was October 1 right now.”

The Lazers dropped to 14-33. Tacoma (30-16) will try to clinch the division title tonight at San Diego.