Twenty down, one to go.
Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs are on the cusp of a squeaky-clean regular season, after burying the Burnaby Jr. Lakers 15-5 in a B.C. Junior 'A' lacrosse league game Wednesday at the Poirier Sports and Leisure Complex.
A victory over the 11-7 Delta Islanders in Ladner on Saturday would give the Jr. A's an unblemished 21-0 record, making them the first squad to finish the regular campaign with all wins since the Jr. Lakers accomplished that feat in 2006.
Jr. A's general manager Ken Wood was cautious with his words Thursday when asked about the prospect of a perfect season.
"It feels good... I don't really want to say too much now because we haven't done it quite yet," Wood told The Tri-City News. "Talk to me Sunday and I may be able to offer you a better quote."
When pressed further, Wood conceded going 21-0 would be a nice accomplishment but, as Jr. A's head coach Curt Malawsky told The News last week, a second straight Minto Cup national crown next month in Calgary would be a far, far greater one.
"[A perfect season] is something no other Coquitlam Jr. 'A' team has even done so it would be something to be proud of," Wood said. "I'd feel good for the players and the coaches. They're the ones doing it, after all.
"But I will reiterate what my head coach said. It really doesn't matter what we do now as much as what we do in August."
Last summer, the Jr. A's won all five games as hosts of the four-team Minto Cup to capture their first ever national title. Wood believes his squad has a good chance of repeating that accomplishment at this year's Minto to be hosted by the Alberta's Okotoks Raiders, Aug. 20-28.
"I personally think we're even stronger, even tighter than we were last year," Wood said of his unit, which has out-scored their opponents by a lopsided 79-26 aggregate its last five games. "I think some guys thought they had to pick up the scoring a bit when we lost [high-scoring graduated junior] Mark Matthews, and I think the players have learned a lot from last year's experience."
That was most apparent Wednesday, when the Jr. A's bolted to period leads of 6-2 and 13-2 against Burnaby on way to the 10-goal triumph. Last Sunday was similar, as the Jr. A's jumped to an 8-1 margin after the first period and shelled the Victoria Jr. Shamrocks 14-3 in Coquitlam.
Against Burnaby, newly acquired Port Moody product Jackson Decker led the Jr. A's with four goals and one assist, while Ben McIntosh added three tallies and three helpers. Travis Cornwall also scored twice for Coquitlam.
Versus Victoria, Matthew Dinsdale led the potent Jr. A's attack with four goals and four assists, with Wesley Berg and Ryan Johnson fired in three markers apiece.
Meanwhile, the PoCo Saints got out-scored 4-2 in the final frame and dropped a tough 11-10 decision Saturday to the Nanaimo Jr. Timbermen at PoCo Rec Centre.
The loss dropped the last-place Saints to 2-17 on the season.
Garrett Chan, Richard Lachlan, Andrew Bromley and Matt Delmonico netted two goals apiece for PoCo.
