The writing is almost on the wall for the New Westminster Salmonbellies.
The junior A club did arguably all it could against the defending champion Coquitlam Adanacs and it was still not enough following a 12-5 loss at Queen's Park Arena on Tuesday.
The loss left the Fishmen down two games to none in their B.C. best-of-five playoff final against the A's, who appear to be building in strength with little more than a week left until the Minto Cup begins in the Royal City.
"We're hoping to prove that on paper tomorrow," said Adanacs captain Tyler Garrison following Tuesday's night dominating win over the junior 'Bellies.
Garrison scored the first of six power play goals for the Adanacs, knotting the score 2-2 after New West's shorthanded go-ahead marker by Josh Byrne a minute earlier.
But despite New West's strong start, Coquitlam kept pace throughout the matchup, taking advantage of seemingly every opportunity that presented itself.
Coquitlam took its first lead despite being widely outshot in the period on back-to-back goals less than a minute apart from Cole Shafer and Steven Neufeld, with his first of three goals in the game.
Jimmy McBride tied the score 4-4 late in the period, which drew a questionable goalie change from the Coquitlam bench, with Peter Dubenski coming into replace starter Davide DiRuscio.
The move proved profound, for following Jeremy Bosher's 5-5 goal at 5:15 of the second period, no other 'Bellie got a ball past the former Nanaimo Timbermen netminder.
Coquitlam took advantage of two New West penalties to take the lead for good, and then minutes later made a big penalty kill while down two men when Mike Messenger went off for roughing.
Seconds after the penalty expired, Messenger was back on the floor and made a key statement, finding a seam in the New West defence and potting the A's third of four unanswered goals in the middle frame.
Wesley Berg garnered his hat trick for Coquitlam on the power player later in the period with Justin Goodwin in the sin bin with a double slashing minor.
Coquitam continued its dominance into the third period, ouscoring the home team 3-0 despite being outshot 18-10.
"Today was good, everyone was clicking," said Garrison. "I wouldn't call (the win) easy, but we stuck to our guns."
Regrouping for tonight's Game 3 in Coquitlam will not be an easy task for New Westminster, which must be asking itself what more can it do against the Adanacs' seemingly mistake-proof system.
"That's what we're hoping," Garrison added.
Game 3 in the series will take place at the Coquitlam Sports Centre tonight (Wednesday) at 7:30 p.m.
If necessary, a Game 4 is back at Queen's Park on Friday. Game time is scheduled for 8 p.m.
Back east, the best-of-seven Ontario Junior A playoff final is currently tied 2-2 following the Whitby Warriors' 8-7 win over Six Nations on Tuesday.
