No Dane Dobbie posed an obvious dilemma Wednesday for the Coquitlam Adanacs.
The A's leading scorer missed the game with a neck injury and his team subsequently missed filling the net in a 9-5 defeat to the Langley Thunder at Poirier Sports Complex.
The loss eliminated the A's in six games in the best-of-seven Western Lacrosse Association series and gave the Thunder their second straight Mann Cup Sr. A national championship berth.
After Mark Negrin netted his second goal of the game to put the A's up 3-2 before the midway point, Coquitlam mustered only two goals the rest of the way while Langley counted seven.
The Thunder, who were missing a big gun of their own in former Jr. Adanac star Athan Iannucci, out-shot the A's 46-30 - 19-6 in the first period alone.
Daryl Veltman was the A's top point-getter in the game with a goal and three assists.
"Trade off?," queried A's head coach Bob Salt, when asked if the absence of Dobbie and Iannucci cancelled each other out. "How do you trade one of the best players in the world? [Iannucci] is good, no question, but if I was to start a team, I'd start with Dane Dobbie. And another Dane Dobbie, and then another."
Said A's general manager and assistant coach Randy Delmonico: "[Losing Dobbie] was a huge factor. We didn't play the kind of game we've been playing for quite some time. Showing up at the arena and finding out he's done for the year could have had something to do with that, I don't know.
"We struggled offensively all year and to lose your best offensive player, that's just not good."
Even with Dobbie the first five games of the series, the goal-starved A's never once scored double digits in one contest, with their highest output being nine in a 9-8 Game 2 win Aug. 21 in Coquitlam.
"It's really disappointing [to lose], and the players should be disappointed," Salt said. "We didn't play well and I don't know why. This is a chance-in-a-lifetime thing [to go the Mann Cup]. You only get so many kicks at the can, and I know that. I hope they do now, too."
The Thunder, including other ex-Jr. Adanacs Tor Reinholdt and goalie Brodie MacDonald, along with former PoCo Saints' junior standout Rob Van Beek, advance to play the host Peterborough Lakers, featuring former Sr. Adanac stars John Grant Jr. and Tracey Kelusky, along with long-time playing great John Tavares.
Salt said beating the Lakers - in Peterborough, to boot - will be no easy task for the Thunder. "They have a lot of firepower and you've only got one ball, but if you win there [in Peterborough] you deserve more than the Mann Cup," Salt said. "The atmosphere, it's like playing in Victoria - times 10."
