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There is no mistaking the 1993-born New Westminster Salmonbellies when it comes to provincial championship finals.
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Four for four: The 1993-born New Westminster Salmonbellies won their fourth provincial lacrosse championship title, taking the gold medal in the intermediate A1 final at Queen's Park Arena on B.C. Day. The boys also won previous provincial gold at the peewee, bantam and midget A1 levels.

There is no mistaking the 1993-born New Westminster Salmonbellies when it comes to provincial championship finals.

The team of New Westminster intermediate boys won its fourth provincial A1 title of their minor lacrosse careers following a resounding 16-4 victory over Coquitlam in the provincial championship final at Queen's Park Arena on Monday.

Lucky to advance to the gold-medal final after a 1-2 record in the round robin, New West eked its way into the final game on a tie-break over Langley and Richmond.

New Westminster's 11-9 win over Langley in the final preliminary round game proved the difference in the outcome.

"We were getting mixed messages by everyone, saying we had to win by three, five, six goals," said New Westminster goalie Rocky Bowman, who backstopped the intermediate 'Bellies win with 25 saves. "Yeah, I know, it was a rough way to go - 1-2. But our coach gave us a pretty good speech before the game and 16-4, you can't get much better than that."

New Westminster, the regular season champions with a 21-3 league record, jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and then built a 6-1 advantage heading into the second period.

New West dropped its first two games of the tournament, falling 7-6 to Coquitlam on Friday and again by the same score to league runner-up Richmond the following day.

"For whatever reason we were really flat. But this team has a history in the gold medal game at the provincials," said New Westminster head coach Don MacDonald.

The core of the New Westminster teens won previous A1 provincial titles at the peewee, bantam and midget levels.

"It's an amazing accomplishment. Last year, we overachieved. We knocked Coquitlam out of the gold medal game and then out of the medals at (last year's) provincials," said MacDonald.

"We're pretty good at getting the ball back and in the big games, we're pretty good at putting it in the net, too."

In fact, very good. New Westminster spread the scoring among eight shooters, including two goals and two assists from player of the game and team captain Justin Goodwin.

The Salmonbellies leading scorer Josh Byrne showed the team's will to win, leading all scorers in the final game with six points, including a hat trick, despite playing all the tournament game on an injured knee.

Luke Gillespie, Chris Nasato, Nathan Stewart, Brett Carlson and Reese Robinson all contributed two goals to the Salmonbellies scoresheet. Drew Millikin potted a single firstperiod marker.

MacDonald rightly described New Westminster's accomplishment as an indication of a true team.

"Mark my words. This group here will win a Minto Cup," MacDonald said, adding that the victory had a personal meaning for him as well.

"I grew up here. I lived at First and Third for 40-plus years. I played in a Minto Cup here and a Mann Cup, but this is my first gold medal.

"It's pretty special," he said.

tberridge@royalcityrecord.com