NLL Insider

There was a point in last night’s BC Jr. A final game 5, where you thought the New Westminster Salmonbellies were going to walk into the Palace on Poirier and steal a victory from the Coquitlam Adanacs. Then Robert Church scored a power play goal half way through the second to tie the score and send then A’s on a four goal outburst over the next five minutes to put the game away. Sure at that point it only made the score 2-2 but in the tightest defensive game of the series it was more than enough.

Game four saw the Bellies use their own five minute goal run to take that game and then bad blood boiled over at the end leading us into the start of a best two out of three scenario. Matthew Dinsdale, who had great game 4, opened the scoring for the A’s just three minutes into the game, as he was able to slide himself into an open lane and beat Neil Tyacke on a great one timer. The next eight minutes or so saw some very tentative lacrosse as neither team wanted to really open themselves up.  Then Kevin Crowley and Daniel McQuade scored within twenty seconds of each other giving them some momentum the rest of the period and into the break.

After Tyacke gave up the opening goal in the first, he battle back through the rest of the period to make 16 stops giving the Bellies some much needed confidence. At the other end, Dan Lewis was playing just as solidly, making eleven saves. There was thought that Chris Siedel may get the start but Lewis came in and was very impressive all game long and rarely made a bad decision throwing the ball.

Once Church scored the power play marker to tie it, the Adanacs took control of the game. Obviously coach Dan Perrault said some very inspiring words during break because the A’s were a different team. They went back to their bread and butter. Lots of fore checking, pressure defense and relentless assaults on the New West defense. Don’t get me wrong, New West played their hearts out and on numerous occasions had possession of the ball for a few two minutes stints. But they just couldn’t penetrate Lewis’ armor.   As the A’s started grinding on the Bellies, they were able to start finding the corners on Tyacke and when Matt Beers scored one of the luckiest goals of his career, you could see the air slowly leaving the New West sails. The dagger, was when Lewis went from the top of his crease and took one giant leap to the back post to rob Brandon Goodwin with an unreal stick save that could be candidate for save of the year!

Coming into the start of the third period, Coquitlam held onto a 5-2 lead and had a huge wave of momentum. The game had been relatively clean, with only one penalty all game up till the 8 minute mark of the third, and both teams continued to play some very high tempo exciting lacrosse.  New West tried to push back but there was no give in the Adanacs on this night. They were to solid front to back and the absence of Tyler Digby, Curtis Dickson and Eric Lewthwaite seemed to really silence the Bellies attack.

So now the Coquitlam Adanacs are one game away from their first Minto Cup appearance since 1993 and are poised to become the first western team to head east not named the Lakers for over 10 years! But by no means can you count New Westminster out.  The home team has won every game of this series so far and they look to continue that trend Friday night. The only thing is, the A’s are like a hungry school of sharks and they smell blood.

Jenner is a two-time Mann Cup champion with six years of NLL experience. Email him at ted.jenner@nllinsider.com also follow the Coquitlam Jr. A Adanacs and the Intermediate A Adanacs live, as Teddy brings you color commentary with Brad Challoner for the Jr's and play by play with Brody Allen for the Intermediates -- http://www.junioradanacs.com/multimedia.php

Rate This Story:

(+41 rating, 9 votes)

 Loading ...