NLL Insider

Victoria and Coquitlam opened up the 2009 Western Lacrosse Association (WLA) playoffs with a bang last night, as the A’s threw down a surprise 17-15 win in Victoria. With the game tied at 15-15 and less than 30 seconds left, veteran Curt Malawsky (NLL Calgary) scored the game-winner, short-handed on a controversial turn-over call. The two teams resume action on Thursday, as their best-of-seven series goes every other night: VIC vs COQ Preview.

The West’s other big semi-final match should be just as intense. It starts up tonight and features the defending WLA champion New Westminster Salmonbellies against the young Langley Thunder. During three regular season meetings, only three goals separated the clubs.

(2) New Westminster vs (3) Langley

2009 Regular Season
Records: New West: 13-3-2; Langley: 10-7-1
Head-to-head: Tied 10-10, New West 11-9, New West 9-8
GF: NW: 180 – 28%PP; LGY: 188 – 42%PP
GA: NW: 141, LGY: 164

At the start of the year, we noted this may be the year Langley turns the corner. And they have. This Thunder team is extremely entertaining to watch, led offensively by a ton of future National Lacrosse League (NLL) stars including WLA rookies Garrett Billings (NCAA Virgina/ ‘09 NLL Draft Eligible), Kyle Belton (NCAA Stony Brook, SO), Alex Turner (NLL Washington), Stephan Leblanc (NCAA Queens/ ‘09 NLL Draft Eligible), Jamie Lincoln (NCAA Hofstra, SR) and Joe Vetere (NLL Calgary).

Rob Van Beek (NLL Philly) and Mike Grimes (NLL Washington) have both enjoyed great years on the back-end. The emergence of goaltender Joe Bell has been another big story and reason why this year’s Thunder has enjoyed success which including playing the ‘Bellies tight all season.

“Comparisons can be made to 08-09 Blackhawks,” offered Langley GM Gerry Van Beek, making reference to the Chicago Blackhawks National Hockey League (NHL) team that knocked the NHL Vancouver Canucks out of their post-season run.

Wrote Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province, the Blackhawks’ young guns of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp, led “this shaggy-haired bunch of kids who can’t even grow playoff beards, into a Western Conference final showdown.”

“I don’t think anybody has seen the complete Thunder yet,” added Van Beek, noting the team is still gelling and getting better with every outing.

New West’s defense, however, is one of the league’s best, led by unsung pro defenders Ian Hawksbee (NLL Edmonton), David Morgan (NLL Colorado), Kyle Ross (NLL Boston) and Peter McFetridge (NLL Calgary). The ‘Bellies also have star rookies of their own, on the defensive end, with Curtis Manning (NLL Calgary) and Rory Smith (NLL Titans).

Matt Roik (NLL Washington) and Tyler Richards (NLL Washington) both allowed less than eight goals against per game on average, league-bests.

Sophomore Jordan McBride (NCAA Stony Brook, JR) led New West in scoring for a second year in a row while Cliff Smith (NCAA Denver/ ‘09 NLL Draft Eligible) has shown again he’s ready to transition to the NLL.

Smith, who led the league in playoff goals last year, finished second in ‘09 team scoring despite only fitting into 13 games. He will be in New West’s line-up for the duration of the playoffs.

Scott Stewart (NLL Edmonton), Jordan Hall (NLL Titans) and Ilija Gajic (NCAA eligibility/ possible ‘09 NLL Draft) will, too, all be back in the ‘Bellies line-up after each played less than half of the regular season; Only Hall may miss a game or two as he continues to split time in Major League Lacrosse (MLL) where he was also an All-Star.

This is the year New Westminster hoped to contend for the Mann Cup, at home, after also representing the West in 2008.

“First round playoffs are usually the tough ones, anything can happen,” offered New West GM Dan Richardson. “Langley will be hungry but our guys are focused and ready to go”.

“[Getting to the Mann Cup is] going to be way tougher than last year,” added New West coach Bob Salt in an interview with the NW News Leader. “They have a pretty balanced team that can really go. They’ve given us nothing but a bad time.. . I tell you they’re going to be trouble, but that’s good.”

“We match up well,” concluded Van Beek. “We have to break their penalty kill and win more draws against them. The tempo of the game has to be set by us… This Thunder team of 2009 is not trying to build for the future, we want it now.”

Schedule

All lower mainland WLA playoff and Mann Cup games are available online:

New West Salmonbellies vs Langley Thunder
Wed. Aug 5 – Langley at New West
Fri. Aug 7 – New West at Langley
Sun. Aug 9 – Langley at New West
Tue. Aug 11 – New West at Langley
Thur. Aug 13 – Langley at New West*
Sat. Aug 15 – New West at Langley*
Mon. Aug 17 – Langley at New West*

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

Can Langley’s young squad up-set the defending WLA champs? Is Victoria going to bounce back and take Coquitlam? State your prediction on the NLL Forums in the WLA Playoffs thread.

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