Playoffs started more than a month early on the weekend for the Coquitlam Adanacs. At least it appeared that way.
The A's split a pair of gritty, low-scoring games versus their two most-heated rivals, the Victoria Shamrocks and the New Westminster Salmonbellies, to remain at .500 and in third place in the seven-team Western Lacrosse Association.
On Friday, the A's sprinted to a 4-1 first-period lead and held on for a solid 8-5 victory over host Victoria. The tables turned the next night in New West, however, as the 'Bellies bolted to 3-1 lead by the first intermission and bottled up the A's for a stingy 7-2 win at Queen's Park Arena.
"We were a little bit disappointed losing to New West but, at the end of the day, we thought we had to go get a split and we did," said Adanacs general manager Les Wingrove. "It was pretty much mission accomplished, but yeah, the games were pretty intense, all right."
Coupled with a 9-4 loss two Sundays ago to the Nanaimo Timbermen, the results left the A's with a paltry 14 goals in their last three games -- far below what's expected of a team replete with prolific stick wizards.
"You go through ups and downs at various points of the season," Wingrove rationalized. "We've gone from good offence with poor defence to the other way around. We just have to work at putting both parts of our game together more on a regular basis."
Against the Shamrocks, the A's Dane Dobbie snapped an early 1-1 deadlock by netting back-to-back goals and Coquitlam never looked back. Dobbie finished with three goals and one assist, while Victoria product Cory Conway was next on the A's with a goal and four helpers. Other A's marksmen were Jason Jones, Peter Veltman and Trevor Evans.
Back-up Nick Rose, who blocked 45 shots, was a standout in net filling in for A's regular starter Brandon Atherton.
In New West, Dobbie and the majority of the A's big guns were held goal-less, as Tyler Richards came up big in the 'Bellies cage in stopping 42 shots. Daryl Veltman and rookie Robbie Campbell were the only two A's to strike net, as New West's Cliff Smith singlehandedly drubbed Coquitlam with four goals and two assists.
The 4-4-0 Adanacs look to break out of the scoring drought Saturday when they host the 3-5-1 Burnaby Lakers at Poirier Sports and Leisure Complex, 7 p.m.
Jr. A's remain perfect
Matthew Dinsdale ripped in two goals and added six assists as the Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs trimmed the host Nanaimo Jr. Timbermen 13-11 Sunday to jump to a perfect 15-0 in the B.C. Jr. 'A' lacrosse league standings.
Ben McIntosh and Ryan Johnson added three tallies apiece for the winners, who visit the 2-13 PoCo Saints on Friday at PoCo Rec Centre, 8 p.m.
The Saints won for the second time this campaign Friday, when Jimmy Delaney fired in four goals and supplied two assists as PoCo beat the Burnaby Jr. Lakers, 11-9. Nash Harrison and Danton Nicholson added two markers apiece for the Saints.
