The Coquitlam Adanacs were 20 minutes away from the Minto Cup final. But those 20 minutes became an eternity for the B.C. Junior Lacrosse League champions Tuesday night.
The Adanacs fell 11-7 to the host New Westminster Salmonbellies, who now go on to face the Whitby Warriors in the best-of-five series to earn the right to hoist the Minto Cup.
"We were in control," said Adanacs coach Neil Doddridge of his team taking a 7-6 lead into the third period of Tuesday's semifinal at Queen's Park Arena.
"I think Frankie (Scigliano, the Salmonbellies goaltender) stepped up. He shut us out in the third. We still had a lot of chances, we were still going to the net hard the last three or four minutes but we just ran into a hot goalie in the third period."
He thought his team did a good job of keeping New Westminster shooters to the outside but they were able to capitalize on second possessions.
Cole Shafer scored twice and added a pair of helpers for Coquitlam, while Reid Reinholdt had a pair of goals and an assist. Steven Neufeld, Tyler Pace and Vinny Ricci each netted a goal and an assist. Davide DiRuscio made nine saves in the A's net before giving way to Pete Dubenski, who turned aside 27 of the 33 shots he faced.
Doddridge singled out the efforts of the players who have been with the Adanacs for the past three Minto Cup runs.
"The Reid Reinholdts and the Vinny Riccis and the [Tyler] Garrisons, it's sleepless nights for them for sure," he said. "You feel bad for them because they're such good kids and for the most part they've grown up in that arena and wanted to raise a Minto Cup at home in front of friends and family. It's disheartening."
Doddridge holds out little hope for the Salmonbellies in the final, predicting Whitby will win in two-and-a-half games with a chuckle. He says changes have to be made to the import rules - calling for a return to the limit of five imports from the current two - in order for the west to consistently compete with the stronger Ontario squads.
The BCJLL coach of the year expects the Adanacs will challenge for a sixth consecutive Minto Cup berth next year, anticipating all but five players will return to the lineup. He said the big challenge will be in net, with both DiRuscio and Dubenski moving on.
