The Coquitlam Adanacs have left themselves little room for mistakes in their quest for a Minto Cup.
The B.C. Junior Lacrosse League champions again needed to get past the New Westminster Salmonbellies Tuesday night in order to reach the best-of-five Minto Cup finals.
Those finals will start Thursday night in New Westminster's Queen's Park Arena against the Ontario champion Whitby Warriors. Whitby downed the Adanacs 12-7 Monday night to complete their perfect 3-0 run in the four-team round robin.
"Whitby set the bar, they're the best team right now," said Adanacs coach Neil Doddridge. "I think we'd be a good matchup in a three-out-of-five. I've said before we're better set for series play and one-off games are not the way that we're built."
Reid Reinholdt netted a hat trick for the Adanacs, who trailed 5-3 after one and 12-5 after the second period. Tyler Garrison, Cole Shafer,Tyler Buchanan and Sam Goodman also scored for Coquitlam.
"That's the way it should be played, that level. Their transition in the second period was the difference," said Doddridge.
He's confident the Adanacs can get past New West to get a second crack at Whitby and plans to make some adjustments to combat their quick transition game and back-door plays.
"Obviously, they've been empowered by their coaches to push the ball and shoot when given the chance. But we'll be ready for them," said Doddridge, who pointed to a slick backhander from Whitby's Emerson Clark in Monday's game.
"For a guy who's coming out the back door, it kind of says a lot about the type of stick skills they have out the back door."
Both teams set the tone for a potential rematch, amassing 85 minutes in penalties during the final 17 seconds of Monday's game.
"You're protecting your players. It's not badminton, it's lacrosse," said Doddridge.
Steven Neufeld, who led the B.C. league in playoff scoring, sat out Monday's game.
"We've always rotated. We had to play three nights in a row, and now four nights in a row," said Doddridge. "That game meant nothing so we sat guys we figured it wouldn't hurt to get some rest. New West has gone with the same lineup throughout so they might be a bit tired."
Coquitlam opened the tournament with a 9-5 win over Alberta's Okotok Raiders Saturday. Vinny Ricci netted a hat trick, while Reinholdt and Matt Delmonico each scored a pair and Jake Taylor and Chase McIntyre provided singles.
The Adanacs then fell to the Salmonbellies 9-7 on Sunday. Shafer and Tyler Pace each scored twice, with singles going to Ricci, Reinholdt and Taylor.
Whitby opened with an 11-5 win over New West before crushing Okotok 18-4. The Salmonbellies stopped Okotok 16-9 Monday night.
