With the regular season now put to bed, it鈥檚 time to man up for a run at the Mann Cup.
That starts tonight for the Victoria Shamrocks, who open their best-of-seven Western Lacrosse Association semifinal against the Burnaby Lakers at Bear Mountain Arena at 7:45 p.m.
The Shamrocks were handed a favour by the Coquitlam Adanacs, who bounced back from a 7-2 first-period deficit on Saturday to swamp the Lakers 13-12 and hand Victoria second place overall.
鈥淭he WLA, go figure. I can鈥檛 figure it out. It was 7-2 Burnaby, I went to the neighbour鈥檚 for a beer or two, come back and it鈥檚 12-9 [Coquitlam after two periods],鈥� said Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes, who had virtually resigned himself to falling into third.
鈥淪ome teams in the league just match up differently against others and that takes form out of the equation.鈥�
The Shamrocks, for example, lost the season series to Burnaby 2-1, but were without Scott Ranger, Jeff Shattler and Nolan Heavenor in a 10-8 loss at home. Goaltender Matt Vinc also wasn鈥檛 at his best as he gave up 10 goals on 44 shots.
Josh Philips was in net for the 12-11 loss in Burnaby in which the Shamrocks out-shot the Lakers 57-46.
Rhys Duch, who is due back for the post-season run for the Shamrocks, also missed out in the opener, a 14-8 victory, mind you.
But it鈥檚 a home-floor opportunity for the Shamrocks now, who need to take advantage of the situation, unlike last season when the same Adanacs upset them in the first round.
鈥淎n extra home game doesn鈥檛 hurt. We鈥檝e got the best fans in the league and it鈥檚 always fun to play in front of them,鈥� said Cory Conway, who led the Shamrocks in points with 20 goals and 57 assists, second overall in the WLA.
鈥淗ome floor is huge. I can鈥檛 speak to last year because I wasn鈥檛 here, but we鈥檙e all excited to have another opportunity to play in front of them,鈥� added Conway, who recorded three goals and 15 assists in three games against the Lakers.
鈥淚 think everybody is excited. It鈥檚 a new chapter. The regular season doesn鈥檛 mean anything anymore 鈥� it鈥檚 about peaking at the right time and hopefully that time is now.鈥�
Teammate Corey Small finished with 42 goals and 44 assists for the Shamrocks, third overall in the WLA ahead of Burnaby鈥檚 Dane Stevens, who had 26 goals and 55 assists.
Small recorded eight goals and six assists in three games against Burnaby, who were led by Stevens in the seasonal series with five goals and 14 helpers.
Robert Church, Tyler Digby and Scott Jones are all keys to Burnaby鈥檚 success, just as Ranger, Shattler, Small, Duch and Conway are for Victoria.
鈥淚 feel really good,鈥� said Heyes, whose team led the league on the power play at 45.16 per cent efficiency and in overall scoring with 199 goals. 鈥淭he season was up and down and inconsistent, but there鈥檚 a good feeling for what we can accomplish here.
鈥淭he focus of a lot of the guys we brought in should really help us. We鈥檙e just champing at the bit to get to that first game and find our place.鈥�
The series resumes a week from today in Burnaby with remaining dates being Aug. 9, 11, 12, 14 and 16 鈥� the last three played only if necessary, alternating venues in each game. All games start at 7:45 p.m.
n THUNDER vs. ADANACS
The 11-5-2 Langley Thunder entertain the 9-8-1 Coquitlam Adanacs in the other semifinal starting Thursday in Langley.
Like Victoria, Langley has plenty of firepower in Dane Dobbie, Athan Iannucci, Shayne Jackson, Mark Matthews and Adam Jones. They also have a solid tandem in goal with Brodie MacDonald and Nick Rose.
The Adanacs come in with five straight wins, however, and a bee in their bonnets after trading Dobbie, Rose and Damon Edwards to the Thunder at the deadline.
Langley won two games and tied one against Coquitlam in the regular season.
