New Westminster booked its ticket back to the B.C. Junior Lacrosse League championship final.
The junior A Salmonbellies swept the Delta Islanders, winning 17-12 at Queen’s Park Arena on Tuesday to take the best-of-five semifinal playoff series in straight games.
Four New Westminster players put up huge numbers, leading all scorers with eight points apiece in the series clincher.
Johnny Pearson led all scorers with five goals and three assists, while Brett Dobray, who was picked up at the trade deadline from Langley, added four goals and four helpers.
Connor Robinson and Anthony Malcom both collected a goal and a game-high seven assists apiece.
Game 3 was similar to the two earlier games with Delta giving almost as good as it got on the scoresheet.
The Islanders opened the contest with a 2-0 lead and forced the home team to play catchup until Dobray scored his first hat trick of the series in a two-minute span late in the first period.
From that point on New Westminster never trailed, building on leads of five goals in the second period and six goals in the third before settling for the 17-12 outcome.
“It’s (Delta’s) last game and no one is going to go out without a fight and they did for three games,” said Dobray, who gave the ’Bellies a two-goal lead at the end of the first period with pair of goals 26 seconds apart.
Graduating junior Luke Gillespie picked up the mantel in the middle frame, scoring three times in a nine-minute span, before finishing the game with four goals and five points.
Adam Dickson also collected five points, including his second goal of the series midway through the final frame.
Nick Penney came on in relief of starter Ross Bowman with New West leading 9-8 midway through the second period and allowed just four goals the rest of the way.
Jonathan Phillips led the Islanders with three goals and two assists.
“We gave (Delta) some good looks. They had some good shots,” said New West head coach Dan Perreault. “The last period was more about ball possession.”
For Dobray, getting a taste of playoff action in his final year of junior is magic.
“It’s my third year (of junior) and I felt I wasn’t going to get a chance. It’s a great feeling the way this team operates,” Dobray said. “That’s the thing about New West. They’re good at every level, everybody knows their job. … The chemistry was a little different, but I put it together tonight at least.”
With Coquitlam leading Victoria 2-0 in the other semifinal series, the B.C. final could begin as early as either Tuesday or Wednesday.
But Perreault expects the scores to be lower than what was seen in the first round.
“As you move along, everything tightens up, the compete level in the game is much higher,” said Perreault. “But we feel we have the scoring power and the defence, too.”
Game 3 of the Coquitlam/Victoria series will be played at the Coquitlam Sports Centre on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. If necessary, a Game 4 will be at the Q Centre in Victoria on Sunday at 5 p.m.
