New Westminster will take on the Delta Islanders in the first round of B.C. Junior Lacrosse League playoffs tonight.
The Salmonbellies finished up their B.C. Junior Lacrosse League season with a 14-6 win over the playoff-bound Victoria Shamrocks at Queen’s Park Arena on Sunday.
The ’Rocks will take on league runner-up Coquitlam in the other semifinal.
New West led 4-3 after 20 minutes and then put its foot to the pedal, pulling away with a seven-goal second period.
Luke Gillespie, with a pair of goals, and Adam Dickson, with a second-period hat trick, did most of the damage for the home team in the middle frame.
Ontario acquisition Eric Penney got his first start in goal, earning the win with a 24-save effort.
Josh Byrne led all scorers with his ninth hat trick of the season in a five-point effort.
League scoring champion Connor Robinson surpassed the century mark with five helpers to finish the year with 104 points.
Chris Nasato also potted a pair of goals for New West.
The junior ’Bellies open the best-of-five semi-final series on Wednesday at Queen’s Park Arena at 8 p.m. against the only team that managed to beat them during the regular season.
“Yeah, yeah, we’re aware of that. We’re certainly not looking past Delta,” said New West head coach Dan Perreault.
“At this time of year, we have to be disciplined and stay out of the (penalty) box. That will be important. And we must make sure we take any kind of transition away from them. We want to play our game – move the ball and play good defence.”
Game 2 of the playoffs will be on Saturday in Delta. Faceoff is at 7:30 p.m.
New Westminster finished in first place in the regular season with a 20-1-0 record.
