NLL Insider

While tonight’s final regular season game between the Coquitlam Adanacs and New Westminster Salmonbellies is bound to be a good one—and you can look to the last clash between the two for proof—it really doesn’t have any bearing on who finishes where in the standings. With the top six set, playoffs fast approaching, and more parity in this league than we’ve seen in years, here’s a look at who’s facing who, how they’ve fared against each other, and what we can expect from the first round of the playoffs.

1st place: Coquitlam Adanacs - on a bye to semis

After spending the season hauling so much hype around on their shoulders, the first-place Adanacs have earned a rest. Coquitlam’s big three on offense this year have undoubtedly been Scott DeFrancesco (80 points), Jarrett Davis (74) and Kelly Kilpatrick (61), but if the Adanacs are going to go as deep into the playoffs as they plan to they’ll need Sean Robinson to start turning his flashes of brilliance into consistent goal-scoring opportunities. (For a look at what this guy can do you’ll want to hit the Adanacs’ multimedia page and check out his behind-the-net goal.) Furthermore, with Jordan Weir burying roughly one out of every three shots he takes for an impressive 33.70% shot percentage and 31 goals with 16 helpers, maybe it’s time to start looking to him as an increasingly viable scoring option. Think those numbers are a fluke? Not likely. Last year saw Weir with a 31.11%, 28 goals and 18 assists.

Defensively, you’ve been hearing from NLLinsider all season about what Matt Wilson brings to the table, not only in terms of policing the crease but also in the face-off circle. Matt Beers is never one to be messed with and has spent this season shutting down some of the biggest offensive players in the league, and Creighton Reid is a steady stalwart. While Joel Weber is one of the names that consistently gets thrown around as one of the top tenders in Jr. A with his 86.32% save percentage, with Sunday’s 6-2 win over the second-place Victoria Shamrocks Chris Seidel has proven himself an excellent alternate option. If Coquitlam continues to play at the level that they can and take nothing for granted, someone’s first-round victory party will be cut short when they realize they’re preparing to play the Adanacs.

2nd place: Victoria Shamrocks - on a bye to semis

When the topic of the top goalie in B.C. Junior A comes up, Matt Flindell is one of those names that will be screamed in your ear, and not just by the Victoria faithful. Boasting a greedy 88.29% save percentage and with his GAA a measly 4.91, Flindell proves game in and game out that he can carry a team that isn’t really even in need of carrying. And with Justin Veuger and his 104 penalty minutes and Trent Tabor and his 90 out in front of him, Flindell is probably having a pretty entertaining time back there.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Cayle Ratcliff has spent the regular season tearing up the score sheets, ending up with 68 points. Joel Henry with his 52 and Matt Yager with 50 followed closely behind, and you can’t blame the Shamrocks if they’re wishing Michael Pires (35 points in 10 games) could have been with them all season. Cory Conway has been in and out of the line-up but still racked up 38 points in 11 games, however he did so with a shot percentage (13.64%) that wasn’t quite half of what it was last year. As a member of the Portland Lumberjax during the NLL season, however, what Conway may provide in leadership could end up being invaluable during the playoffs.

3rd place New Westminster Salmonbellies vs. 6th place Nanaimo Timbermen

Here’s a playoff match-up we’ve seen recently. Last year the Salmonbellies clear-cut the Timbermen three games to none in their first round best-of-five, dumping them 9-4, 12-4, and 11-3. In the ‘08 regular season series between the two teams the Salmonbellies retain the edge, having won two games vs. the Timbermen and losing one.

This year, despite finishing in sixth like the year previous, the Timbermen are one year older, a good deal wiser, and a whole lot more unpredictable–they went from beating New West to losing to South Fraser in the span of one week. With the trade of goaltender Drew Dickie to the Calgary Jr. A Mountaineers, the Timbermen will be relying on a pair of ’89s Sam Corcoran and Rob Pierson. In contrast, the Salmonbellies will look to vets Sean Tessarolo and Ray Hodgkinson.

Just looking at the stats it would appear that the Timbermen are relying on a two-pronged attack–Cody Bremner and Colton Clark each racked up over 60 points in the regular season but after those two it’s a steep drop off to Matt Wray and his 20. While New West do look to have the upper hand offensively with a well-rounded group of forwards including Kyle Belton, Alex Turner and Max Gallant it remains to be seen what kind of catalytic players will emerge on the young Timbermen team. It will be up to captain Curtis Manning and the New West D to continue to limit Nanaimo’s secondary scoring. The Timbermen and their fiery defense will have to keep playing the disciplined style of D they’ve adjusted to this season.

4th place Burnaby Lakers vs. 5th place Port Coquitlam Saints

In the regular season standings just four points separate the Burnaby Lakers and Port Coquitlam Saints. But now that we’re hitting postseason and Burnaby has pulled off a round of trades and looks to be switching into its annual playoff gear, that regular season? Might not even matter.

The Burnaby Lakers have been terrorizing the B.C. Jr. A postseason for about as far back as we can find stats for. They’re just one of those teams that know how to win, and with Alex Gajic and his league-topping 95 points ripping it up nearly every game there’s no signs of him stopping now that it really counts. The downside to Gajic’s dominance? As we’ve seen in a pair of games this season, the Lakers may not be able to win without him in the line-up should a worst-case scenario occur. However, with the offensive efforts of Joe Vetere, Dane Stevens and Riley Loewen, the PoCo defense, featuring Dayne Michaud, Matt Hardman, Kevin Miotto, tough guy Jesse Rougeau and goaltender Tyson Cornfield will have their hands full either way.

While the Saints have beaten both the New Westminster Salmonbellies and Victoria Shamrocks this season, the Burnaby Lakers downed them in all three of their match-ups, two of them with respectable scores of 10-8, and one being a 10-2 blowout. Newly-acquired Burnaby goaltender Scott Lowe along with Tom Wray will have to contain the firings of Martin Cummings (57 points), Andrew Murphy (56) and Jordan Flaman (42). While the Burnaby Lakers generally operate on a no-surprise-here basis come playoffs, the PoCo Saints do anything but. They’ve stunned a couple big teams already this season and they’ll be looking to do it again.

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