NLL Insider

Nanaimo had a slim shot of making the ’08 Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) playoffs last week, but Victoria tied Coquitlam 11-11 last Wednesday to punch their ticket into the postseason along with New West, Coquitlam and Burnaby.

Check back next week for your WLA Playoff Preview.

Victoria and Burnaby still have to settle the seeds and that will likely happen this weekend. The two clubs are battling for the third and fourth spots, and are in key games this week that could very likely preview how the post-season schedule sets up.

No. 1 seed New West, who still has just one blemish on their record – an OT loss to Coquitlam, will take on the No. 4 seed TBD. No. 2 seed Coquitlam will draw the No. 3 seed. Victoria and Burnaby are tied in the standings with 15 points each.

Victoria is at New Westminster this Thursday and then at Nanaimo on Saturday. They finish the regular season off as host to Nanaimo next Wednesday. The Shamrocks tied Coquitlam last week then lost to them by one last Saturday. If that was a preview of their first-round match-up, it will be a good one.

Burnaby hosts Coquitlam on Friday and then play at Maple Ridge on Sunday. They finish their regular season at Langley. Heading into action last week, the Lakers were on a 7-1 run, with a one-goal loss to New West. But they were hammered by New West, 15-6, and lost at Nanaimo, 14-11, over the weekend.

“We are a running team with some young legs and we weren’t pushing the tempo of the game, we were letting them take the game to us,” said Burnaby’s leading goal scorer and NLL San Jose Stealth, Cam Sedgwick. “Regardless, it was a tough weekend and we’re looking to rebound from it.”

This weekend could very well preview some of this years playoff match-ups, so teams will be looking to make statements. Both the Shamrocks (winless in their last four) and Lakers (winless in their last two) will look to rebound.

“Last time we played Coquitlam we won but Coquitlam is on a good run right now so in order to win we have to push the tempo of the game and cut down on a lot of the mental errors we made last weekend.”

“And being that we might face them in the playoffs, we have to show up, play tough and get back on a roll,” added Sedgwick, last year’s WLA MVP who’s shooting the lights out again with a wicked 33% shooting percentage.

However the playoffs break-down after this weekend though, it should be a good post-season in ‘08.

Here are some of this year’s past scores between the top clubs, showing how close the games have been between the WLA’s elite.

June 6: New West 7, Victoria 5
June 14: Burnaby 9, Coquitlam 6
June 19: Coquitlam 8, New West 10
June 20: New West 8, Burnaby 7
June 28: New West 6, Coquitlam 7 OT
July 04: Victoria 10, Burnaby 11 OT
July 16: Coquitlam 11, Victoria 11 OT
July 19: Victoria 10, Coquitlam 11

WLA games to catch this week are potential playoff previews:

Victoria at New West - Thurs, July 24, 7:45pm
Coquitlam at Burnaby - Friday, July 25, 7:45pm

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