NLL Insider

Last weekend, both New West (6-0) and Coquitlam (6-1) defeated previously undefeated Victoria (4-2) by respective scores of 7-5 and 8-5. As Shanny mentioned in his weekly CLA Power Rankings, however, Victoria’s top scorer was absent from the line-up with MLL commitments. New West, Coquitlam and Victoria remain the teams to beat this season.

Langley (2-4), Burnaby (1-4-1), Maple Ridge (1-4) and Nanaimo (0-5-1) all remain within three points of each other for the fourth and final playoff spot out West. And Nanaimo knows they need wins this weekend if they hope to make the playoffs again.

The winless Nanaimo Timbermen will play at Langley tonight and at Maple Ridge on Sunday. Both of those games will be key to determining whether the Timbermen will complete for a playoff spot in 2008. The T-Men will also host first place New West on Saturday.

After starting 0-3 this year, Nanaimo made a coaching change hiring Head Coach Roger Dubyna and Assistant Coach Jim Kipp to replace former Head Coach Bill Hardy and Assistant Bob Vink.

“We feel the players are a lot to blame,” said Timbermen president Mark Vanderhorst at the time in an interview with the Nainamo Daily News, on the coaching change. “It’s not all on Bill and Bob. We really feel that the players need to now step up.”

“It’s up to the players to respond because the next change has got to be players.”

“Langley and Maple Ridge are two teams we need to beat because they are so close to us in the standings,” added Vanderhorst in an interview with the NLL Insider. “We need to get in the win column to build some momentum and both teams have beaten us once so we don’t want them winning the season series. That could have playoff ramifications.”

Nanaimo made playoffs last season, finishing the regular season tied in fourth place with Maple Ridge’s identical 7-11 record - advancing based on the tie breaker scenario Vanderhorst referenced. Each team plays each other three times during the regular season.

A key boost to Nanaimo’s line-up this weekend will be the return of Kaleb Toth. The NLL Calgary Roughnecks’ star put up six points in his only WLA game earlier this season.

Due to work commitments, Toth is playing in weekend games only - but will be featured in all three of Nanaimo’s games this week as they look to keep pace out West.

Here is your complete WLA schedule for the week:

Nanaimo at Langley - Wed, Jun 11, 7:00 pm
Maple Ridge at New Westminster - Thu, Jun 12, 7:45 pm
Victoria at Burnaby - Fri, Jun 13, 7:45 pm
Burnaby at Coquitlam - Sat, Jun 14, 7:45 pm
New Westminster at Nanaimo - Sat, Jun 14, 7:00 pm
Nanaimo at Maple Ridge - Sun, Jun 15, 6:45 pm

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