NLL Insider

Lewis Ratcliff captured the WLA scoring title and is shooting for his third Mann Cup ring with Victoria.

The Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) playoff schedule starts up this week with the Victoria Shamrocks matched-up against the Coquitlam Adanacs and the New West Salmonbellies drawing the Langley Thunder in best-of-seven playoff series.

Note the Eastern Major Series League (MSL) also kick off their semi-final series tonight; The winner of the East and West will meet in B.C. this year for the Mann Cup championships.

(1) Victoria vs (4) Coquitlam

‘09 Regular Season
Record: Victoria: 14-3-1; Coquitlam: 9-9
Head-to-head: Victoria 18-11, Victoria 11-10, Victoria 22-10
GF: VIC 255 – 47%PP; COQ 171 – 37%PP
GA: VIC 171; COQ 186

The Victoria Shamrocks made noise early in the season, and were labeled as the team as the team to beat early after winning twice over the ‘Bellies.

Led by Lewis Ratcliff (NLL Toronto), Rhys Duch (NLL Washington), Luke Wiles (NLL Washington) and Jeff Shattler (NLL Calgary), Victoria’s offense was easily the best during the regular; The Shamrocks scored 255 goals while no other team topped the 190 mark. Forward Ryan Ward (NLL Edmonton) will also be in the mix for the duration of the playoffs, after playing just half of the regular season.

“I think we have the talent to take us to the Mann Cup but it’s the work commitment we have to make,” added Victoria’s coach Art Webster in an interview with Victoria News.”The front end is the best in the league.”

Victoria also brought in Ian Llord (NLL Buffalo) from the start and Curtis Hodgson (NLL Washington) via trade, to strengthen a back-end led by unsung Victoria products like captain Buck Stobart (NLL Edmonton), Noah Talbot (NLL Minnesota) and Jamie Roy.

Coquitlam, however, hasn’t shown its full potential yet and should not be counted out. Throw out their regular season, as a number of A’s only played half of the year, including forward stars Daryl Veltman (NLL Boston), Cory Conway (NLL Colorado), Jason Wulder (NLL Edmonton) and Andy Secore (NLL Edmonton), plus D-leader Andrew McBride (NLL Calgary) who cracked just six regular season games.

“I hope people are counting us out, quite frankly,” A’s GM Les Wingrove told the Tri-City News after Coquitlam snapped a six-game losing skid to secure their WLA playoff spot.

Goaltending will be the X-factor. If the A’s are to pull off the up-set, Chris Levis (NLL Edmonton) who led Coquitlam to the WLA title the last time the Mann Cup championships were held out West, or Brandon Atherton (NLL Edmonton), will have to out-play Victoria’s Nick Patterson (NLL Minnesota). Aaron Bold (NLL Washington) is Vic’s capable back-up.

The ‘Rocks sealed their first-place seed by dominating Coquitlam 22-10 less than a week ago (holding period leads of 8-2 and 16-4). “We sent Coquitlam a message tonight and we will be better in the playoffs,” Webster told the Times Colonist after the victory.

“We’ll take the win, but we’re not looking at the outcome of that game as an indicator of what we’re going to be up against in the first round,” added a more cautious Victoria GM Chris Welch, who noted the A’s also had plane issues that night. “This series will be a big test for us.”

“There’s no easy way to get to the Mann Cup,” added Welch, in a playoff preview by the Times Colonsit. “We have to hit the ground running.”

Playoff Schedule

Tue. Aug 4 – Coquitlam at Victoria
Thu. Aug 6 – Victoria at Coquitlam
Sat. Aug 8 – Coquitlam at Victoria
Mon. Aug 10 – Victoria at Coquitlam
Wed. Aug 12 – Coquitlam at Victoria*
Fri. Aug 14 – Victoria at Coquitlam*
Sun. Aug 16 – Coquitlam at Victoria*

* If necessary
All games start at 7:45pm PST

The league will broadcast all lower mainland WLA playoff and Mann Cup games from theboxrocks.com. That also means if you want to catch tonight’s action, you have to get out to the Bear Mountain Arena. Tickets are now on sale online from the VictoriaShamrocks.ca.

Check back tomorrow for our preview of the other semi-final that starts August 5 at Queen’s Park. And state your picks over on the NLL Forums in the WLA Playoffs thread.

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