Rhys Duch will go from the high of scoring the overtime winner for the pro National Lacrosse League champion Calgary Roughnecks, before 17,039 fans at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night, to playing before just a handful of fans this summer in most Western Lacrosse Association rinks.
That鈥檚 the two-pronged winter-to-summer life of elite box-lacrosse players. Yet, even though it doesn鈥檛 have the glitz of the NLL, most players covet playing for the Senior A national championship Mann Cup.
The Victoria Shamrocks, however, are off to an alarmingly slow start in the Mann Cup quest and are 0-2 after respective 11-6 and 6-4 losses at The Q Centre to the Nanaimo Timbermen and Langley Thunder to begin the WLA season.
The Shamrocks were missing five key players to the NLL final 鈥� Duch, Jesse King, Greg Harnett and Tyler Burton with the champion Roughnecks and Steve Priolo with the finalist Buffalo Bandits.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 no excuse because Langley was missing four players on the Roughnecks, just like we were,鈥� Shamrocks general manager Chris Welch said.
That includes Langley star and NLL MVP Dane Dobbie, who had four goals and three assists in the Roughnecks鈥� 14-13 overtime win Saturday against Buffalo in Game 2 to sweep the best-of-three final.
If they鈥檙e to be successful this year, the Shamrocks are going to have to be the St. Louis Blues 鈥� from last place in January to the NHL final 鈥� of the WLA. Yet, the Shamrocks began 0-2 the last time they won the Mann Cup in 2015.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be the St. Louis Blues because they fired their coach [to achieve their turnaround],鈥� quipped Shamrocks bench boss Bob Heyes, displaying the sort of gallows humour pervading the Shamrocks camp at the moment.
The thing about the Shamrocks鈥� slow start is that the WLA, with only 18 regular-season games, plays more of an NFL-type schedule than an NHL or NBA schedule. Every game matters in the WLA.
鈥淭here is a lot more parity in the league than in 2015, so this is a much steeper hill,鈥� Welch said.
鈥淲e have not done ourselves any favours and have dug ourselves a hole. We鈥檝e got the experience and depth and we should be OK.鈥�
Heyes said it will take 10 wins to make the playoffs.
鈥淲e have to play lights out the rest of the way,鈥� the Shamrocks coach said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a sense of urgency two games in. It鈥檚 going to be tough. We have to go at least 10-6 the rest of the season. We should have won Sunday鈥檚 game. You usually do when you only allow six goals. We鈥檙e not panicking.鈥�
The Shamrocks have the best fans in the otherwise weak-drawing WLA.
鈥淲e had great fan support on the weekend, so it鈥檚 very disappointing our performance did not match up to that,鈥� Welch said.
But the Roughnecks/Bandits cavalry is on the way, with Heyes expecting at least four of the five missing NLL finals players to be in the lineup when the Shamrocks host the Burnaby Lakers on Friday at The Q Centre.
But Welch threw in some caution: 鈥淲e鈥檒l see where those guys are, health-wise and in need of healing, after the NLL season.鈥�
Also coming back in drips and drops this time of the year in the WLA are returning NCAA U.S. collegiate field-lacrosse players. Tyson Gibson and Danny Smith were welcome additions Sunday from NCAA Div. 1 field lacrosse at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. Away until next month, however, will be highly regarded Shamrocks rookie Marshal King at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
BOXLA BITS: The Shamrocks acquired goaltender Peter Dubenski from the Timbermen in return for Victoria鈥檚 third-round pick in the 2020 WLA draft. 鈥� The Thunder are 1-1 following the victory over Victoria and season-opening 14-9 loss to the Salmonbellies in New Westminster. 鈥� Nanaimo fell to 1-1 Sunday after an 11-9 loss to the Salmonbellies (2-0) at Frank Crane Arena.
