NLL Insider

Two key games are on tap tonight in the Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) as we enter the last week of the regular season. Third-place Burnaby (8-7-2) is at Langley and fourth-place Victoria (8-8-1) hosts Nanaimo.

The playoff schedule is not online yet, but will begin in two weeks time. The first best-of-seven series is scheduled to kick off on Tuesday August 5, with the second series starting a day later. Each series will have a game every other day.

As Shanny summed up in this week’s CLA Power Rankings, both Burnaby and Victoria are looking to win out tonight in order to try and avoid the New Westminster Salmonbellies (16-1) in the first round.

New West has just one loss on their season this year (an OT loss to second-place Coquitlam (13-3-2), and the ‘Bellies dominated both Burnaby and Victoria in their last meetings (by respective scores of 15-6 and 13-5).

On the other hand, Coquitlam, Burnaby and Victoria appear evenly matched. A look at the scores between the teams indicates such, with their last three games being decided by a total of one goal. (Coquitlam tied Victoria 11-11 two weeks ago and then tied Burnaby by the same score just last Friday).

Victoria will need a win and a Burnaby loss to move into third place. Burnaby won the head-to-head meeting between the two clubs (with an 11-10 OT victory in their last meeting) and therefore own the tie breaker if the teams finished tied in the standings.

“Regardless of who we play (New West or Coquitlam) we’ll be playing against a very good team so we need to rise to the challenge,” said Shamrock GM Chris Welch. ”If you want to be the best you have to beat the best.”

They need help from Langley tonight in order to catch third and could get it. Six times this season the Langley Thunder have been on the wrong end of one goal games. Victoria will also have their full line-up available for the first time this year.

“We feel now is the time to get on a roll, right into the playoffs,” said Burnaby GM Paul Rowbotham.

For New West, it’s a matter of just staying focused. They also dominated last season, and won their opening round playoff series, but were then swept in the final. They’ve lost twice in the WLA finals the last two years.

“Our main focal point is to stay in the moment and not to allow our guys to start thinking ahead,” added New West GM Dan Richardson.

“Coquitlam, Burnaby and Victoria are all very very good clubs with strong goaltending, offensive threats and they all play tough defense so for us it’s the old adage one game and one series at a time, period.”

New West hosts Maple Ridge on Thursday night to finish off their regular season.

“The lacrosse fans are in for a real treat,” added Richardson. “WLA playoffs are a real exciting time of the year, some excellent lacrosse games are just around the corner.”

Here is you schedule for the last week of WLA regular season:

Burnaby at Langley – Wed, July 30, 7:45pm (last meeting, 14-10 Burnaby)  
Nanaimo at Victoria – Wed, July 30, 7:45pm (last meeting, 13-9 Victoria)
Maple Ridge at New West – Thurs, July 31, 7:45pm (last meeting, 9-6 New West)

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