NLL Insider

Lewis Ratcliff leads all WLA scorers with 45 points in only seven games.

The New Westminster Salmonbellies (5-3-1) no longer are that feared team that swept through the ‘08 Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) regular season and playoffs. The ‘Bellies posted their second loss to Victoria two weekends ago, then last weekend tied Langley, 10-10, and lost to Coquitlam, 11-8, in a heated affair.

That slide has New West pushing off their pre-season favorite roll onto the Victoria Shamrocks (7-0) who’ve jumped out to a perfect start.

“They’re going to be the team to beat [this season], no doubt,” New West’s coach Bob Salt said of Victoria in an interview with the Times Colonist after the ‘Bellies dropped their second game to the Shamrocks. “The way to the Mann Cup is through them.”

“Shamrocks have New West’s number, so far” (June 6) and “New faces have ‘Rocks rolling” (June 11) are two headlines that have recently been published with the Victoria Times Colonist. Since those articles, Victoria has continued to crush its competition, beating Maple Ridge 18-8 on June 12 and then stomping Nanaimo 20-10 the next night.

“Mann, this team is good!” (June 14) wrote the Times Colonist in another article that also shares some of the history of the green and white Shamrocks, now in their 60th season. “There is nothing like putting on the clover and wearing the green and white,” offered GM Chris Welch.

Led offensively by league scoring leader Lewis Ratcliff and 09’s National Lacrosse League (NLL) Rookie of the Year, Rhys Duch, Victoria has obviously looked great early this season. Nick Patterson has been focused in goal, posting a 5-0 record and .79SV%, while Aaron Bold’s .83SV% is second in the league only to Coquitlam’s Chris Levis‘ .84SV%.

Coquitlam (5-2) sits in third-place while Maple Ridge (4-4) has now crept into fourth-place, one point ahead of Langley (3-5-1) who has some of the league’s best young offensive talent and will face the Rock this Friday.

WLA rookies Alex Turner and Kyle Belton of the Langley Thunder are Top 4 in league scoring and have NLL star potential written all over them. Maple Ridge’s star rookie forward Jarrett Davis is tied for fifth overall in league scoring.

The Thunder and Burrard are currently battling over fourth-place in the WLA; The Top 4 teams from the regular season will make the playoffs. Burnaby (1-6-1) and Nanaimo (0-5-1) continue to struggle.

This Week

New West and Langley already kicked off this week’s WLA action. On Wednesday night, the ‘Bellies outscored the Thunder 5-3 in the third period to pull out an 11-9 victory.

Jordan Hall, Tyler Crompton, Peter McFetridge and Ian Hawksbee each contributed two goals for the ‘Bellies to move them into second-place in the standings. Langley was led in scoring by Garrett Billings and Jamie Lincoln.

New West will now host Maple Ridge on Thursday night in the WLA broadcast Game of the Week. New West is slowly adding back players; Jordan Hall and Peter Morgan have each only played three games thus far and Ilija Gajic, last year’s WLA playoff MVP, isn’t expected back until July.

The Burrards are coming off an OT victory over Burnaby last Sunday led by Joel Dalgarno who had three goals and seven points in his return from Ohio State. Jarrett Davis, plus ‘Jax players Derek Lowe and Tyler Codron also contributed offensively and will be players to watch tonight.

The complete WLA lacrosse schedule for the week is as follows:

Maple Ridge at New Westminster – Thu, Jun 18, 7:45 pm
Nanaimo at Burnaby – Fri, Jun 19, 7:45 pm
Langley at Victoria -  Fri, Jun 19, 7:45 pm
Nanaimo at Coquitlam - Sat, Jun 20, 7:00 pm
Coquitlam at Maple Ridge - Sun, Jun 21, 6:45 pm

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