The Acme Timbermen have been running roughshod over the rest of the league lately, but now they’ll be matched up against another contender.
The Nanaimo Acme Painting Timbermen senior B lacrosse team hosts the Tri-City Bandits this Saturday (June 22).
The Bandits ousted the T-men from the playoffs last year and Tri-City has won the West Coast Senior Lacrosse Association championship the last five years in a row.
“We know that we’ve got some strong teams coming up here…” said Mike Maughan, coach of the Acme T-men. “But we’re looking at it as a positive thing to try to build our game going into the playoffs. Playing these good teams can only help us.”
The Bandits (5-3) will be better than most of the teams the T-men (8-1) have beaten lately, but Nanaimo won’t need to make any major changes to the game plan.
“There’s little wrinkles that you add in for every team,” said Aaron Vanderhorst, T-men veteran. “We’re more concerned about running our systems and doing good habits, playing good transition lacrosse, both defence and offence and carrying that forward into every game.”
The T-men don’t really know what Tri-City team to expect. The Bandits have had erratic results lately, for example, winning 23-9 and losing 10-2 against the same North Shore opponent, less than a week apart.
“We definitely want to measure ourselves – with our record, we’re right up there,” Maughan said. “But at the same point you measure yourself as you’re going into the playoffs.”
GAME ON … The Timbermen and Bandits play Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at the Nanaimo Ice Centre. Admission to Acme Timbermen games is $8 for adults and $5 for children, or free to any Nanaimo District Lacrosse Association player who comes to the game with a paying adult … The Bandits’ Bryan Poole is leading the WCSLA in scoring with 33 points despite playing only four games this season.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com