The hottest team that isn’t the Coquitlam Adanacs heading into the BCJALL playoffs is the PoCo Saints.
The Saints go into their best-of-five series against the New Westminster Salmonbellies that open on Tuesday riding a six-game winning streak. That was good enough to vault PoCo from fifth place in the standings to third, and avoid a one-game showdown for the right to be immediately sacrificed to the dominant Adanacs who lost only one game all season.
The Victoria Shamrocks defeated the Langley Thunder, 8-7, in that wild card game Sunday and will play Coquitlam beginning Saturday.
Saints’ coach Kelly Scott said a lot has changed since his team last faced the Salmonbellies, a 10-4 win on June 16 at the PoCo rec centre. For one, he’s finally got a full roster of players to work with - minus injuries to Liam Thomas and Connor Frost that will keep them out of the playoff opener at least.
PoCo started the season with a patchwork lineup of call-ups and borrowed players to fill out a roster sheet that was missing 17 regulars who were still away at school. So Scott wasn’t surprised that his team lost its first four games.
“We have a lot of smart lacrosse players, I guess,” Scott said. “It was a struggle putting together a quality roster.”
As his regulars started drifting back from various U.S. universities where many of them are playing field lacrosse on scholarships, Scott had to bring them together into a cohesive unit. Quickly. Before the Saints fell completely out of the playoff picture.
“Once we got everyone back, it was just a matter of getting as many practices in as we could,” Scott said. “We had to create a sense of family and bonding, keep them together as much as possible.”
That bonding has paid off. Since their rough start, the Saints lost only four more times the rest of the season - of which two were to the Adanacs.
And the best could still be to come, Scott said. The acquisition of Patrick Szabo and Andrew Gresham has bolstered a defence that allowed the third fewest goals in the league and goalie Andrew Gallant’s .833 save percentage was third best.
More importantly, the Saints will finally boast a complete power play unit, Scott said, something that could be an advantage if his charges are able to maintain their discipline on the floor.
“We’ve got to play smart and stay out of the penalty box,” Scott said. “We’ve got to take advantage of our power play opportunities.”
After Tuesday’s opener at Queen’s Park Arena, the Saints and Salmonbellies will play game two Friday, at the PoCo rec centre at 8 p.m. Game three is scheduled for next Tuesday in New West.
The Adanacs open their series against the Shamrocks on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex, then head to Victoria for game two on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Q Centre.
• The Saints finished their regular season schedule with a 12-3 win over the Burnaby Lakers last Friday at the PoCo Rec Centre. Mickey Fitzpatrick scored the first of six unanswered goals for the home team just 14 seconds into the game. He added another later in the game, along with two assists to lead the Saints in scoring. Dylan Foulds also had a four-point night with a goal and three helpers.
