With a playoff position now clinched, the Victoria Shamrocks turn their focus to securing No. 1 overall in the Western Lacrosse Association.
The two-time defending league champions will have a chance to do just that tonight as the 12-3 Shamrocks visit the 10-6 New Westminster Salmonbellies at Queen鈥檚 Park Arena at 7:45 p.m.
Up by four points and with three games remaining, the Shamrocks have already defeated the Salmonbellies twice, which would give them the tiebreaker and first overall. But the matter of an appeal, in which New Westminster had two points taken away, was still to be resolved and could cut the Victoria lead in the standings to just two points.
The appeal was set to be heard late Wednesday night and had not been resolved by press time.
That fact matters little to the Shamrocks who intend to close out their schedule on a strong note in preparation for playoffs.
鈥淲e now need to build for the playoffs, so we want to put [tonight] away and Friday, as well, at home, then there鈥檚 one more Friday at home. We want to go into the playoffs on a high note,鈥� said Shamrocks assistant coach Dave Lowdon.
The Shamrocks will return home Friday to play host to Burnaby at 7:45 p.m. at The Q Centre, then close out the regular season at The Q on July 31 against Langley.
鈥淣o. 1 is making the playoffs, we鈥檝e done that, and No. 2 is first place. We want to put that one to bed so that we have home floor going right through,鈥� added Lowdon.
The team is now fully together for the stretch run and the playoffs with goaltender Aaron Bold rejoining them.
鈥淗ere for the duration, until we hoist the Mann [Cup],鈥� Bold said rather boldly. 鈥淔irst place is more of a mental kind of barrier for some of the guys. For me, personally, I just like to focus on what I have to control 鈥� like I鈥檝e been doing since I got to a more competitive level.
鈥淚 like to break it down to five-minute segments and, further to that, just one ball at a time, as my dad used to say.鈥�
This final week of play, where the Shamrocks squeeze three games in eight days, will help fine-tune, said Bold, a Victoria native.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 make any major tweaks going into the playoffs, but there are small things here and there, like ball control and finalizing our systems on offence and defence, and maybe playing with a bit more composure,鈥� he said. 鈥淲ork ethic, too. Even though we鈥檙e having a good season, we can鈥檛 get ahead of ourselves.鈥�
So all attention will be on the Salmonbellies tonight.
鈥淭his will be a great test. I鈥檓 expecting a lot more out of them,鈥� said Lowdon, whose troops had eight days off between games.
鈥淟ast week off was really good for us. We had been going really hard, a week off lets the aches and pains subside so we now we can get into playoff mode where we have to go every other night.鈥�
Bold has not played since June 27 when he allowed just three goals to Coquitlam. It came a night after his debut when he helped Victoria defeat New West 18-8. In two games he has allowed the 11 goals and has an .841 save percentage.
鈥淭hey have some good offensive players in Logan Schuss and [Jordan] McBride. They have a good back end that can transition the ball as well with [Jeff] Cornwall and [Ian] Hawksbee and a few others,鈥� said Bold.
鈥淛ust like any other competitive league, if you lay off a threatening-type of opponent, you鈥檙e going to lose that night.鈥�
