NLL Insider

In less than twenty-four hours the Coquitlam Adanacs will head off to Brampton, Ontario for the Canadian National Junior Lacrosse Championships – their first visit to this show in over twenty years. They are packing some pretty heavy heat – the best rookie in the country, who also happens to be the league’s top scorer (107 pts) and league MVP- Robert Church; the goalie of the year- Dan Lewis; the league’s most sportsman like player and play-off MVP- Trevor Moore; the league’s most inspirational player- Brandon Turner; and several league all-stars (Lewis, Church, Moore and former Six Nations Arrow Corbyn Tao) Not to mention the twenty other weapons in the arsenal.

                The A’s had one of the best Junior A seasons any BC team has ever seen. There were some people who felt they weren’t going to be challenged enough throughout the year to have the necessary battles under their belts to prepare for contention in this year’s Minto Cup. Well after an intense five game series against the Burnaby Lakers followed by an all out war against the New Westminster Slamonbellies, this team is battle tested and ready to take the East by storm. Coach Dan Perrault was extremely happy with how his team handled every situation they found themselves. From a shellacking mid way through the year at the hands of the Delta Islanders (a 10-3 loss), to consecutive losses against Burnaby and then of course going into New West and clinching game 6 in a series where the home team had won every game up to that point.

                The A’s are going to be in tough though! It’s never easy going back East to vie for the National title. Hotels, restaurant food, little fan following (in the arena that is), new refs, and of course being from BC all takes it toll. But this team will play every game like it has all year long. All out, in your face and never say die. They will represent the West with the utmost class, dignity, sportsmanship and professionalism. They have as good a shot as the other three teams and if all goes according to plan by the first week of September they will be on a plane back over the Rockies with another trophy to add to their 2009 collection.

                Now with the Coquitlam Intermediate A’s and the Junior A’s taking the BC titles, there was hope that the organization could pull off the tri-fecta. But going into tonight’s game three of the WLA finals, it doesn’t seem as if that is going to happen. Now in no way am I counting the Senior Adanacs out of their best of seven series versus the Bellies; it’s just that they haven’t shown me or anyone else signs that they can handle the Red Monster. Having been outscored 27-10 in the first two games, outshot 111-66, and they haven’t won a period – something drastic would have to happen for them to get back into it. The Bellies are solid from front to back and show no signs of slowing down. The A’s however did silence their critics by disposing of the Victoria Shamrocks in series one so we know that they can play some great lacrosse. Plus having Jason Wulder, Curt Malawsky, Dane Dobbie, Cory Conway, Peter and Darryl Veltman, Gary Binning (who will hopefully see some floor time tonight), and Andy Secore on the offensive side of the ball they have the fire power to compete. The only thing is, it’s hard for those guys to do anything productive when they spend most of the game outside of the New West D.

                Game three is tonight at the historic Queen’s Park Arena in New West and a win puts the Bellies that much closer to a return the big dance. Will Coquitlam be able to penetrate the giant Red Woods standing in front of Tyler Richards and Matt Roik? Will the A’s get any sort of goaltending help? Can they even limit the Bellies to one shot possessions? All those questions will be answered tonight! You can listen live to the game on the www.theboxrocks.com . Jake Elliot and I will be on the air just before the 7:45 face off and its going to be a great WLA match-up.

 So as one Coquitlam teams gets ready for a flight, the other is getting ready for a fight…. But all is not over yet…..

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

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