The New Westminster Salmonbellies scored five unanswered goals, beginning at 13:19 of the second period, to eclipse a 4-3 Victoria lead to record an 8-4 Western Lacrosse Association victory before 1,991 fans Sunday at The Q Centre.
It was the final game of the WLA regular season and had no bearing on the standings, so both squads rested several players.
New Westminster won the league regular-season crown at 15-3 while Victoria placed second at 12-6.
Junior Shamrocks call-up Brad McCulley led Victoria with the hat-trick while Casey Jackson scored the other goal to secure the league goals title with 46 on the season. Logan Schuss of New Westminster locked up the WLA scoring title with two goals to give him 106 points on the season, well clear of Victoria鈥檚 league second-place and third-place finishers Jackson (95 points) and Jesse King (93).
The Shamrocks will open their all-Island best-of-seven playoff semifinal series Wednesday at The Q Centre against the third-place Nanaimo Timbermen (10-7-1), making their first playoff appearance in 11 seasons, and only the second in the 15 seasons since rejoining the WLA. Game 2 will be Friday at Frank Crane Arena Nanaimo, Game 3 on Sunday at The Q Centre and Game 4 next Tuesday at Frank Crane. If required, the following games would be Aug. 10 at The Q Centre, Aug. 12 at Frank Crane and Aug. 14 at The Q Centre.
The other semifinal series, between the Salmonbellies and fourth-place Maple Ridge Burrards (9-8-1), begins on Thursday at Queen鈥檚 Park Arena in New Westminster.
