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Bob Heyes鈥� band of bruised brothers heads to Burnaby today with hopes of clinching their Western Lacrosse Association鈥檚 best-of-seven semi-final series and advancing to their fourth straight league championship final.
Up 3-0 in games, but battered by injuries, the Victoria Shamrocks can close out the Burnaby Lakers at Bill Copeland arena with a victory at 6 p.m.
As they say, though, the fourth win is always the toughest.
鈥淭hey know we have a depleted lineup so they know they鈥檒l have a bit of an advantage. I don鈥檛 see a lot of their guys being carried off,鈥� said Heyes, the Shamrocks head coach, who lost a very key piece of his team with Jesse King鈥檚 injury on Friday.
鈥淲e haven鈥檛 played with Kinger all year so the mindset of that is we鈥檝e been through this before,鈥� said Heyes, who only had King in the lineup for a handful of regular-season games due to Major League Lacrosse commitments.
鈥淜inger鈥檚 only been here a few games, but you want your best player here at the best time. We don鈥檛 have him, so we鈥檙e going to hope for the best and we鈥檙e going to go in with a determined make-shift lineup. We鈥檝e got guys here who all competed [Friday],鈥� Heyes said proudly.
Rhys Duch continues to lead offensively, adding four goals and an assist on Friday and improving his playoff totals to 12 goals and 20 points. Cory Conway had five helpers and Corey Small had a goal and three assists. Jeff Shattler had a strong one-goal and four-assists outing.
It鈥檚 the defence that has come up huge, however, especially during some long offensive dry spells. The Shamrocks twice went 14-plus minutes without scoring on Friday, but the defence and goalie Adam Shute stood tall.
鈥淭here is no concern at all. These guys are battling so hard. The heart and desire is there and that鈥檚 what counts,鈥� stressed Heyes, who knows how tough today will be, as does Shattler.
鈥淚t鈥檚 usually the hardest game to win,鈥� Shattler said of the fourth and final victory required to close out opponents. 鈥淚鈥檝e had teams up 3-0 and I鈥檝e lost. That鈥檚 happened to me three years in a row. I鈥檓 not counting them [the Lakers] out and I don鈥檛 think our team should.鈥�
As for the injuries, Shattler can鈥檛 believe the hard luck the Shamrocks have faced losing King, Ian McShane and Doug Langlois, all with bad leg/knee injuries.
鈥淭he bodies are starting to get the wear and tear. We want to try and finish them off up there and hopefully, we can get some rest before the other series is over,鈥� Shattler said.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e all trying to step in for guys who have been hurt. We have a bunch of guys falling left, right and centre, but we have strong depth to our team,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think our team will do well and hopefully give those guys some rest and they can be back later in the playoffs.鈥�
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