The junior A New Westminster Salmonbellies popped Coquitlam's seemingly unbreakable bubble.
The Salmonbellies ended the Coquitlam Adanacs consecutive winning streak at 24 games, beating the defending Minto Cup champions 7-6 in Game 1 of the best-of-seven B.C. Junior Lacrosse League playoff final Wednesday.
New Westminster built on a 4-1 first-period advantage and led by as much as five goals before the A's began to chip away at the visitor's lead.
"I thought (New West) was full marks for the win," said Coquitlam head coach Curt Malawsky. "They earned everything they got. They outworked us and outhustled us, and they got the result. We got the result we deserved."
New Westminster played without its regular season leading scorer Tyler Digby.
Reagan Harding potted a pair of goals, including the eventual game-winner at 5: 16 of the third period.
Second-year keeper Frankie Scigliano stopped 37 shots to post his first-ever win over the Coquitlam juniors.
"(Coquitlam) came down on us hard. They've got a lot of skilled, talented players so on any given time anyone can shoot that ball," Scigliano said. "Our defence, I don't know how to explain it. We played with a lot of heart and a lot of passion, and I guess that's what got us over the top tonight.
"We just have to stay positive. We'll take this game, but put it behind us, take this series as though it's 0-0 and anything can happen."
Daniel McQuade and Mark Negrin, with his first of two goals, gave New West a 2-0 in the first two minutes of the game.
Keegan Bal and Brandon Goodwin added later tallies to put the Salmonbellies up 6-1 at one stage of the second period.
"It's always nice to get a jump on them, but you've always got to play a full game. I figured it would come down to goaltending and a tight D game. It's a series, just the first game, but our boys played hard," said New Westminster head coach Dan Perreault.
The two teams resume the series at Queen's Park Arena on Saturday, beginning at 8 p.m.
Game 3 is back at the Coquitlam Sports Centre on Monday, also at 8 p.m.
"There's a lot of lacrosse left, and I'm sure they'd tell you the same thing," Malawsky said.
"Some guys need to have bigger efforts and some guys didn't have their best games. . I thought their goaltender was very good."
"Any series, defence and goaltending is huge. They all stepped up and played really well. They are all dangerous shooters. . You just key on their offence, play them honest and play for 60 minutes," Perreault added.
"It's playoff lacrosse and we love this. The boys have to stay focussed and stay calm, and hang on to finish the job."
