The space race of the 1960s had nothing on the Western Lacrosse Association race of 2019.
Five teams, including the Victoria Shamrocks, were tied for first place with 18 points heading into Thursday night鈥檚 late-finishing game between the New Westminster Salmonbellies and Burnaby Lakers.
Only four teams will make the playoffs, so one of either the Shamrocks, Salmonbellies, Lakers, Maple Ridge Burrards or Nanaimo Timbermen will miss the playoffs.
鈥淚t definitely shows the parity in the league,鈥� said Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes.
鈥淚f it wasn鈥檛 for our slow start at 0-3 and 1-4, we would have led the pack. We鈥檝e had to work hard to rebound and get where we are. But now we hold our destiny in our own hands and that鈥檚 a good thing.鈥�
Going into Thursday, the Shamrocks (9-5) had a game in hand on the other four teams in the hunt and held the season-series tiebreaker against the Salmonbellies, Burrards and Timbermen and would also against the Lakers with a victory Sunday at The Q Centre.
But before that key fixture against Burnaby is tonight鈥檚 game against also-ran Coquitlam (3-12), one of two games Victoria has remaining against the Adanacs.
鈥淲e have to take care of business in those games. We can鈥檛 have any slip-ups,鈥� said Heyes.
鈥淐oquitlam is playing for pride and sometimes those are the toughest teams to play against.鈥�
After the weekend home set against Coquitlam and Burnaby, the Shamrocks close out the regular season away to New Westminster next Thursday and away to Coquitlam the following Saturday.
Veteran defensive-specialist Greg Harnett from the pro National Lacrosse League champion Calgary Roughnecks and sophomore offensive threat Tyson Gibson out of NCAA Div. 1 Robert Morris University will draw into the Shamrocks lineup tonight after missing most of the season to injuries.
