’Rocks need to find ways to counter Timbermen’s strengths
The theory was the Victoria Shamrocks’ veteran experience would be too much for the youthful Nanaimo Timbermen in their bestof-seven Western Lacrosse Association semifinal series.
After all, the Timbermen haven’t been in the playoffs since 2007, which coincidentally, is the last time the Shamrocks missed the post-season. That’s more than a decade ago, for those keeping count. Eleven seasons to be exact.
But the Timbermen ran that theory right out of the Q Centre, quite literally, with their fast-break transition game that caught Victoria flat-footed Wednesday in the Timbermen’s thrill-a-second 12-11 double-overtime victory in Game 1.
Game 2 is tonight at Frank Crane Arena in Nanaimo with Game 3 at the Q Centre on Sunday evening and Game 4 on Tuesday ao Frank Crane.
The second-seed Shamrocks looked older and slower as they set up their methodical half-floor offence. It didn’t help their cause that third-seed Nanaimo dominated in the faceoff circle and in picking up loose balls. Possession is not only nine/10ths of the law, it’s also nine/10ths of lacrosse. And once Nanaimo got the ball, they were quickly down the floor with it, with their pressure offence that gave the Victoria defence scarce time to set up.
Game 1 was a like a debutantes’ playoff ball for the young Timbermen players, almost all of them making their career WLA playoff debuts.
“Our average age is 23, and younger guys are fast and in condition, and we use that youthfulness to our advantage,” said Timbermen head coach Kaleb Toth.
“We have a fast, young team that is eager and athletic, and we’ve used that to beat opponents.”
They have been doing just that, having now won seven of their past eight games.
The scary thing is that Toth doesn’t believe his club played its best transitional game Wednesday.
“I thought it was the worst game in transition we’ve played in quite a while. We’re usually better than that,” he said.
That is a sentiment to make Shamrock fans gulp. Because the Timbermen looked plenty good enough in transition Wednesday, at least to the lay-person’s eyes.
Nanaimo’s youth brigade is indeed impressive, and bodes well for the future.
Chase Fraser is maybe the sport’s next Curtis Dickson. The six-foot-two forward swirled and sniped around the Shamrocks crease for the hat-trick in Game 1, and set up the winning goal, to show how he scored 144 goals in 68 Junior ‘A’ games for the Delta Islanders and 30 goals and 52 points last season in being named WLA rookie of the year.
The Timbermen have two of the top-15 picks from the 2017 pro NLL draft with Fraser having gone to the Buffalo Bandits at 13th overall out of NCAA field lacrosse at the University of the District of Columbia and Drew Belgrave 15th overall to the Georgia Swarm out of the New Westminster Junior Salmonbellies.
Fraser and fellow WLA sophomore Evan Messenger of the T-Men went to the 2016 Minto Cup national Junior ‘A’ championships together with Delta while two-time B.C. Junior ‘A’ all-star Brody Eastwood scored 38, 38 and 42 goals for the Junior Shamrocks in his career. Fellow Victorian Mason Pynn, who had two goals Wednesday for Nanaimo, came out of the Junior Shamrocks and NCAA Div. 1 Drexel. Both Eastwood and Pynn were 2016 NLL draft picks.
Throw in defensive standout Jordan Gilles, an NLL pro with the Colorado Mammoth, who had Junior ‘A’ championship success with both the Coquitlam Junior Adanacs and Delta Islanders.
Gilles was key in helping stymie Victoria’s lethal shooters on Wednesday.
“Victoria has a very dangerous offence, but we helped each other on defence, and kept the Shamrocks to the outside,” said Toth, himself a two-time Mann Cup national champion as a whiplashlethal scorer with the Shamrocks and also for the NLL pro Calgary Roughnecks.
As with any good teams when they meet, one side looks to counteract the other’s strengths. And both the Shamrocks and Timbermen have plenty of good qualities, if in completely different fashions.
“This is going to be a very close series,” said Toth.