The Victoria Shamrocks have been the story of the young Western Lacrosse Association season. But not in the way pundits predicted when Victoria was made a favourite for the WLA title as part of the quest for the10th Mann Cup national Senior A championship in the club鈥檚 70th anniversary season.
Now that team with championship aspirations is a desultory 0-3 heading over the Malahat and into tonight鈥檚 Island derby against the Nanaimo Timbermen at Frank Crane Arena.
All three Shamrocks losses were at home. WLA teams play 18 regular-season games.
鈥淚t鈥檚 only the fourth game but it鈥檚 a must-win,鈥� said Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 call it desperation but it鈥檚 getting close to that for us, especially going into Maple Ridge on Sunday and facing New Westminster next week. We still have the skill set to get us where we want to be, but right now in the league, hard work is trumping talent when you look at a team like Burnaby (4-0).鈥�
Victoria, with its snipers yet to get untracked, has only scored 15 goals.
鈥淥ur defence and goaltending has been good enough to win,鈥� said Heyes.
鈥淏ut when you are averaging only five goals a game, you are asking your defence and goaltending to hold the opposition to four goals or less, which is asking a lot in lacrosse.鈥�
The bench boss added the offence just needs to loosen up.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had our chances and hit lots of posts, and in two of our games, the opposition goalie has been the first star,鈥� noted Heyes.
鈥淲e need to be not so apprehensive and just let the shots go. We need to play with more emotion and celebrate every goal. We need to get our confidence and emotion going.鈥�
Rhys Duch, Jesse King, Steve Priolo, Greg Harnett and Tyler Burton have been in the Shamrocks lineup only once since playing in the pro National Lacrosse League final between Calgary Roughnecks and Buffalo Bandits.
The only player of note still missing is highly regarded incoming Shamrocks rookie Marshal King, who played NCAA Div. 1, and is graduating this month from Drexel University in Philadelphia.
The Shamrocks clearly are running out of excuses, not to mention time. The WLA plays a football-type schedule and any NFL team starting 0-3 would be near panic stations.
The Timbermen, meanwhile, began with an 11-6 road victory in Victoria to start the Island rivalry before dropping an 11-9 decision at home to the Salmonbellies. Nanaimo, however, is 2-0 after the Salmonbellies forfeited their victory against the Timbermen for using an ineligible player.
The Timbermen are looking to build on their breakthrough last year when they made their first playoff appearance in 11 seasons, and only the second since rejoining the WLA 15 years ago, before being beaten in five games in the first round by the Shamrocks.
鈥淭here is parity now and any team can win on any night in this league,鈥� said Nanaimo head coach Kaleb Toth.
鈥淎ny team can make the playoffs. It will probably go down to the last game of the season.鈥�
