Looking to recreate some of that midseason momentum they previously enjoyed, the New Westminster junior A Salmonbellies launch the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League playoffs on Friday with no one looking down the road.
Over his lengthy and storied career in lacrosse, head coach Rich Catton knows looking past your opponent is asking for trouble.
Despite dropping their last two games, New West enters the best-of-five semifinal as the favourite, lining up against the Port Coquit-lam Saints. Although only two points separate the two teams, they have been on different trajectories in recent weeks.
Despite having off-loaded their top defensive and offensive players to Coquitlam in a deadline deal last week that ended with this weekend’s sudden firing of head coach Jamie Scott, the Saints are still a tough matchup, Catton said.
“Some people would think we’d look past PoCo and (on) to Coquitlam, but we won’t have any focus on anything but PoCo this week,” he said. “That’s a best-of-five series we have to keep our focus on.”
Head-to-head the Saints were the better team, winning 9-8 and 7-6 in the first two encounters. But the ’Bellies prevailed 9-6 two weeks ago in what was a crucial game that ended up deciding second place.
While New West finished the regular season Saturday with a 14-13 loss in Victoria – where the two teams traded goals over the final 40 minutes, including an overtime session where the hosts snared the game-winning goal with 1:42 remaining – the hope is that momentum can be drawn from the work ethic established over the season and in this week’s practices.
“We did a lot of great things but we came up short in the end. We had some leads, and it was a good lacrosse game. I can’t fault the boys. … Taking two losses in a row going into the playoffs isn’t the best scenario,” said Catton.
Keegan Bell and recently acquired Ryan Jones counted two goals and four assists each in the loss to Victoria. Also scoring twice were Drew Andre, Cam Garlin and Dalton Lupul.
The playoff series starts Friday at Queen’s Park Arena (8 p.m.), with Game 2 Sunday in PoCo. The series continues next Tuesday in New West, and if necessary, July 20 and 22.
