The Victoria Shamrocks have waited 10 long, excruciating years to hoist the Mann Cup, but despite being just one win away from the 2015 national senior lacrosse championship, the team is taking nothing for granted.
鈥淧eople are asking me if we鈥檙e happy right now. I say, no, we haven鈥檛 done anything yet. We haven鈥檛 won this series. We still have a long way to go,鈥� said Dan Dawson, who has become the voice of reason for the hungry three-time Western Lacrosse Association champions.
Dawson had a huge hand in Wednesday鈥檚 7-5 overtime win over the Peterborough Lakers with an assist on Corey Small鈥檚 game-winner and then adding the insurance goal to give Victoria its 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven.
Victoria can now win Mann Cup No. 9 tonight at 7 at what will be a raucous and rowdy crowd at The Q Centre in Colwood. The last time they won the crown was in 2005, also at home against the Lakers.
鈥淚t鈥檚 definitely a good feeling right now, but we haven鈥檛 done anything yet. It鈥檚 just a 3-2 lead and we鈥檙e going to have to be better,鈥� insisted Dawson, who was brought in this year for his ability and leadership.
鈥淥ur preparation really is no days off, none in the nine nights scheduled. We definitely know this is a team that has come back from a 3-2 deficit in the East and there is a lot of character over there and they鈥檙e not going to quit, so we have to be even better.鈥�
The exact words a hungry coaching staff and teammates want to hear as the feeling of satisfaction will not be experienced until that fourth triumph is secured.
But Game 5 was pivotal in the sense that the Shamrocks had failed to claim a third win of a Mann Cup series the last two years, losing 4-2 in games to Six Nations.
鈥淲e have accomplished something, we鈥檝e got over the hump,鈥� stressed Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes. 鈥淭he last two Mann Cups we could not get that third win. That was the next victory in which we needed to get over that hump.
鈥淲e won something huge in that the mental block that this core team had is gone. We got that third game. It was a huge victory because our confidence level is different,鈥� he insisted.
But there is no sense of overconfidence as the Shamrocks know what the Lakers are capable of, having bounced back from a 3-2 deficit in the Major Series Lacrosse final against Six Nations to advance to the Mann Cup.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to come out hard and Game 6 is going to be a great lacrosse game,鈥� said Heyes. 鈥淧eterborough is going to still play that aggravating style, trying to draw penalties from embellishing and our mantra is, take that shot to the head and play through it.鈥�
As will the Lakers and head coach Mike Hasen insists his team isn鈥檛 done yet.
One thing going in his favour is neither team has managed to win two straight in this series with Victoria taking Games 1, 3 and 5 and Peterborough taking Game 2 and 4.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 not our mindset moving forward. We鈥檙e going to take [Thursday] to recover and get refocused and on Friday we鈥檒l go over preparation and we鈥檒l be ready to go Friday night,鈥� Hasen said.
鈥淥ur last series we were down 3-2,鈥� added Lakers goalie Matt Vinc. 鈥淲e had to win Friday night regardless, that鈥檚 our focus and, hopefully, we come out with the same type of effort and maybe the ball will find the back of the net a couple more times and we鈥檒l force Game 7.鈥�
Or, just maybe, the Shamrocks and their fans will celebrate into the night.
