IL Indoor

New New West Bellie Colton Clark.

It’s the last week of play in the 2010 British Columbia Junior ‘A’ Lacrosse League season and things just got interesting as some big names were moved at midnight last night. Coquitlam remains one point above New West for first place. Victoria needs to win their last game to clinch third. A newly padded Delta roster could finish as high as fourth with home floor advantage. And we may witness red tide around Vancouver Island as Victoria and Nanaimo could meet in round one of the playoffs.

Before the start of the 2010 season a lot of people close to the game in BC probably would have told you that New West and Coquitlam would finish one-two in no particular order. What no one saw coming was the late night, TBS, sports movie starring Sly Stallone ending that could have these two teams fighting for first place in the final game of the regular season next Wednesday night at the Palace in Coquitlam. The Adanacs somehow found room on their already stacked roster to add a couple more pieces at the deadline. Coming over from the Burnaby Lakers is 2009 Outstanding Achievement award winner Riley Loewen (11 goals, 6 assists in just 6 games) and Nick Bilic (15-14-17 GP). Also coming over from Burnaby is one of the loop’s top tenders of the past two seasons Brodie MacDonald. He’ll join proven goalies Dan Lewis and Chris Seidel, leaving Coach Curt with some interesting decisions to make come playoff time on who to start.

Not to be outdone, New West who has had some trouble scoring of late added some fire power of their own. Nanaimo snipers Cody Bremner (31-39-70 and coming off POTW honors) and teammate Colton Clark (22-25-47) will swap Nanaimo red for Bellie red in hopes of a Minto Cup. Both New West and Coquitlam have just one loss of the season, suitably against each other. The first a 9-8 New West win at home, and then a heated (just ask Curt Malawsky and Dan Perrault) 11-6 Coquitlam win at home last week. Both teams are guaranteed a bye in the first round of the playoffs; thus giving them a couple weeks rest that they will both surely deserve as BC’s biggest rivals clash next Wednesday for first place. Tune in to what could be a preview of the BCJALL finals, or even the Minto Cup final at 7:45PM at junioradanacs.com.

We weren’t sure last week if the Delta Islanders would be buyers or sellers when it came to the 2010 trade deadline – well it turns out they were both. After dishing third year players Robbie Campbell to Coquitlam and Carlton Schuss and Jamal Allen to the Calgary Raiders, many thought Delta was looking ahead to 2011, including the guys on the team. “At practice, the first thing the guys wanted to know [was] were we throwing in the towel on the season?” Head Coach Greg Rennie told the Delta Optimist. Well they weren’t. The Isles swung by the Port Coquitlam yard sale and scooped up graduating studs Trevor Evans, Darcy Cummings, Scott Jones and Matt Laustrup. Each brings a different weapon to Delta. Evans – leadership, scoring and playmaking ability on the left side of the floor. Cummings – a pure snipe from the right and penalty killer. Matt Laustrup – defense and a quick transition. And Scott Jones – one of the most dangerous players of 2009 is looking to close out his junior career in style. All players debuted last night in Langley combining 23 points in a 21 to 8 win. The Islanders also picked up face-off specialist Kevin Chelczynski at the deadline last night from Coquitlam. He’ll help immensely with ball possession off the draw. Delta has two more should-win games left on the sched against Nanaimo and Burnaby, and a sweep could land them in fourth place where they would face those Lakers in round one.

The other potential first round playoff match-up could be a history maker. If Victoria wins their final game against a now deflated Poco, they clinch third place and home-floor in round one. Two of Nanaimo’s last three are against New West and Coquitlam; the T-Men will likely finish in the sixth and final playoff spot and for the first time ever, will play their Vancouver Island rivals in the playoffs. 2010 was supposed to be the year Nanaimo claimed island supremacy. It didn’t happen in the regular season as Victoria took the season series 2 games to 1 and will finish higher in the standings.

However, it has been a franchise year so far for the T-Men. One more win would break their club record of 8 in a season. And they are on pace to set a franchise record in Goals For as well. Winning a playoff series at this point for Nanaimo would make their season look like a success.

PLUS THE LINKS (and trade notes)

“We’re out of the playoffs and I felt if we could make a deal to move some of our 21-year-olds and give them a chance to contend for a Minto Cup, we would,” Poco Governor Reg Thompson told the Tri-City News. After sending his top four players to Delta, Thompson also sent tough guy Jesse Rougeau to the Calgary Raiders….  Moving over to Burnaby in the Lowen/Bilic/MacDonald deal are Colton Dow and Jeremy Serraglio…  47 is the number of goals that Delta has put up in their last two games against Langley, they won 21-8 last night factoring in all four new Poco players…  Mark Mathews scored another 10 points last night against Poco, bringing his points per game total to a ridiculous 6.6. Another eastern import Jon Thomson formerly of K-W and Cornell seamlessly slid into to the A’s line-up last night, scoring under 3 minutes in and finishing with a pair of goals and assists…  Oh, and Happy Canada Day! The BCJALL is celebrating by showcasing Canada’s national sport with the second annual Junior ‘A’ Prospects game at the Langley Events Centre. The top five graduating players from each team will be divided between two squads and will showcase their skills for scouts, coaches and GMs of teams in the WLA and the NLL.

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