The New Westminster Salmonbellies needed a win in their final Western Lacrosse Association home game of the season, but didn't get it.
The senior A Salmonbellies came up against a hot goalie and with too few arrows in their quiver before falling 7-6 to the playoff-bound Coquitlam Adanacs at Queen's Park last Thursday.
The loss left the Salmonbellies on the outside of the playoffs for a second straight season.
Former New West juniors Brandon Goodwin and Matt MacGrotty both scored goals for the A's after coming to Coquitlam from Langley in a recent deadline trade.
The Coquitlam win eliminated New West from the post season and clinched a playoff berth for a team that appeared in disarray after player defections less than a month earlier.
"It feels good," said Goodwin after the game. "I really didn't know what I'd come into. But as soon as I came in, I felt it was like a family, and it meshed."
At the other end, New West struggled in the scoring department, getting single goals from rookie Logan Schuss, in the opening minute of play, and Kevin Crowley, to end the game.
In fact, New West got just one goal on a combined 22 shots from its top-three season scorers in the final game.
"We felt good about ourselves all game, but we squandered that lead. It's an issue we've had this season," said team captain Nenad Gajic.
"We put ourselves in this position by the way we played in the first half of the season. We have to learn from that and take it into next season."
The Fishmen were leading by two goals midway through the game, but if not for New West keeper Neil Tyacke, that scoreline might easily have been reversed.
The late second-period goals by Goodwin and MacGrotty came in the final minute less than a minute apart.
Ryan Keith carried that momentum into the third period, finishing off a nice tic-tac-toe passing play with Daryl Veltman and Brent Hickey, and Coquitlam never trailed after that.
Ilija Gajic was the best of the 'Bellies with two goals and one assist.
Adam Shute made 41 saves in the Coquitlam goal. Tyacke had 28 stops in the New West cage.
With the WLA growing tighter each season, Gajic questions whether the team can continue its practice of bringing players in and out of the lineup.
"It's tough to say," Gajic said. "There is more parity in this league. You look at this sport. We're in sixth spot, and we thought we were capable of winning. In the past, we were getting away with having a different roster, but the last couple of seasons, it's been tough to have that chemistry. It's not as predicatable as the league used to be."
First-round playoffs get under way this week, with Burnaby in Victoria tonight (Wednesday).
The Langley Thunder kicks off its defence of the WLA championship against Coquitlam at the Langley Events Centre on Thursday. Game time for both games is 7:45 p.m. Both series resume next week following the B.C. Day long weekend.
