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The New Westminster Junior 'A' Salmonbellies sit second in the province, but were sept by the Adanacs. (Photo: jrbellies.com)

48 hours after the New Westminster Salmonbellies celebrated moving into a tie with Victoria for 2nd place in the BCJALL, the Coquitlam Adanacs let them know who was top dog with a 10-6 victory Tuesday night at Queen’s Park. Insert lame fish flopping pun here … but that has been the story of the 2011 Bellies so far. They win in streaks and they lose in disappointing fashion. Now that their season series with Coquitlam is done, the 8-5 Bellies have a chance to make some noise in the second half of the season and fight to secure the 2nd place finish and 1st round bye. It all depends on what Bellies team decides to show up.

When they win, they win big. They’ve twice put up 20 goals in a game, they boast 5 players with over 30 points and they’ve scored 127 goals, which is 3rd in the league. Even more impressive is the lack of goals scored upon them – 87 goals against is only 3 off of Coquitlam for least allowed in the league. They have 3 capable goaltenders in Frankie Scigliano, Brandon Mulligan and Spencer England, and half way through the season it’s still not clear who their number one is or if they even need one or not. They lead the league in penalty minutes, so they’re tough, but are also 3rd in PPG’s and 2nd in SHG’s. The tools are there.

What has people head scratching in the west though is their lack of winning when it seems a win is in the bag. The 7-6 shock loss to the Langley Thunder, a team that hasn’t beaten them since 2005. After a better showing in a a tough barn-burning loss to the A’s last week forward TJ Cowx told the New West Record “We weren’t ready for that fast-paced lacrosse, but we’ll be ready for them next time.” Well they were ready early but couldn’t sustain it. The Bellies jumped out to a 6-2 lead mid-way through the 2nd before the Adanac offence came alive with 8 unanswered. The A’s left Queen’s Park with a 10-6 victory and a still unblemished record. The good news for the Bellies is that their season series with Coquitlam is over after falling 3 games to 0 and it’s a favorable schedule from here on out.

Next weekend the Bellies play back to back home games with the team they’re tied for 2nd with, the Victoria Shamrocks. The ‘Rocks winning their early season meeting with the Bellies in a penalty filled 13-8 W. The series next weekend could determine who will finish out the season in 2nd. After that, New West’s final 5 games are against the bottom 4 teams – a great chance to win out the regular season and ride hot into the playoffs.

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The 4th place Delta Islanders made a mid-season addition to their coaching staff this week adding Shaun Spingette as a defensive coach. The former Junior ‘A’, WLA and NLLer is moving into a pretty good situation – only the A’s and Bellies have allowed less goals than Delta’s D this season. Springette will also be working with the most disciplined team in the league with a paltry 78 PIMS. “His success as both a player and coach in the past will serve him well as our quest for a Minto Cup National Title continues” GM Jamie Scott said in a press release. It was just a few weeks ago that Delta made a head coach and general manger change, anointing Dave Pirog and Scott respectively. The Islanders (7-5) have a shot at a 3 way tie for 2nd place in the west when they take on the legit 2nd place Shamrocks (8-4) on Saturday at the Ladner Leisure Centre. The Langley Thunder notched their 5th win of the season to complete the sweep of their season series against Port Coquitlam. The win kept the Thunder in 5th place and the Saints at dead last 8th. Poco has a great chance to crawl out of the cellar this weekend with games against 7th place Nanaimo and 6th place Burnaby. Stats wise, the big 3 in Coquitlam continue to dominate the league at an over 5 points per game clip. ’93 born Wes Berg leads the league with 68 points (39-29), followed closely by teammates Marty Dinsdale (20-46) who’s continuing his MVP caliber season from 2010 and Travis Cornwall (29-36) in his 5th year of Junior ‘A’ who has already shattered his career highs in goals and assists. The A’s will look to make it 14-0 tonight against Langley, and remain the top team in the country.

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