Randy Delmonico thinks its sweet that his Coquitlam Adanacs continue to measure up to the defending-champion Langley Thunder.
What stinks, the A's GM believes, are equipment measurements on his goalie Nick Rose.
Despite losing their Western Lacrosse Association MVP stopper to a game misconduct because his pads were deemed too big midway through the second period Monday, the A's withstood a late Thunder charge to prevail 7-6 at Langley Events Centre.
The victory allowed the A's to stave off elimination and force a sixth game in the best-of-seven final series tonight (Wednesday) at Poirier Sports Complex, 7:45 p.m.
After Rose made nine stops before his ejection with the A's ahead 3-1, seldom-used back-up Adam Shute came in and stopped 25 of 30 shots as Coquitlam stymied Langley's deep cast of stick wizards.
"It's a whole lot of rubbish," Delmonico said of Rose's equipment measurement. "The sticks and pads all come from the factory that way, Nick doesn't change them. If they [pads] are out by a quarter of an inch, is that how we decide who goes to the Mann Cup? It's rubbish, I say."
Hardly trash was the playing of the A's defenders, whom Delmonico called "absolutely outstanding the whole game," including for the last four minutes in which they held the surging Thunder goal-less and preserved the one-goal lead to the end.
Jr. Adanacs call-up Robert Church boosted the A's lead to 7-2 with a goal five minutes into the third before Langley whipped in four goals in 10 minutes to make it a one-goal difference.
After that, Shute and the A's defensive cast shut the door while the Coquitlam coaching staff held its collective breath.
"We're not doing anything easy, I've gotta tell you," said Delmonico, who also serves as an A's assistant coach. "It's killing the coaching staff. I'm worn out. I hope I make it through the series."
Kevin Olson and another Jr. Adanacs' call-up, Ben McIntosh, each tallied twice for Coquitlam, with singles going to Church, Ryan Johnson and team leading scorer Dane Dobbie, who added four assists.
Lewis Ratcliff paced Langley with two goals and three helpers and Coquitlam out-shot the hosts 45-40, including 17-9 in the first frame.
On Saturday, the Thunder's Alex Turner scored four minutes into the second overtime period as Langley won 8-7 at Poirier to take a three games to one lead in the series. Olson led the A's that game with three markers.
JR. A'S 2ND AGAIN AT MINTO
Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs were obviously the best team in the province this B.C. Junior A lacrosse league season. Orangeville Northmen were obviously the best team in the country.
The Northmen followed up their 19-6 romp Friday over the Jr. A's with a 9-4 triumph Saturday to sweep the best-of-three Minto Cup final series in two straight games in Whitby, Ont. The Northmen, who won back-to-back Mintos in 2008 and '09 before Coquitlam won as hosts in 2010, went 3-0 in round-robin play and 5-0 overall to prove tops in the four-team tournament, which included the Calgary Mountaineers and the defending-champion hosts, the Whitby Warriors.
Last year, the Jr. A's won the first game of the final before Whitby won the last two to capture the crown.
Orangeville received a bye in the final via their first place round-robin showing, while the Jr. A's brushed aside the Warriors 15-11 in last Wednesday's semifinal to advance to the championship series.
On Saturday, the Jr. A's led 2-1 after the first period before the Northmen stormed back to out-score the westerners 5-1 in the second and 8-2 the rest of the way.
Wesley Berg scored twice for the Jr. A's, whose other goals came courtesy of Ben McIntosh and Reid Reinholdt.
Davide DiRuscio was outstanding in the Jr. A's cage, stopping 57 shots as Coquitlam was out-shot by a lopsided 66-34 margin.
Coquitlam was making its fourth straight appearance in the Minto Cup tourney, after having dominated the Delta Islanders in five games in their best-of-seven provincial final.
