The Acme Timbermen will try to find out if the Bandits are beatable.
The Nanaimo Acme Painting Timbermen are taking on the Tri-City Bandits in the West Coast Senior Lacrosse Association finals, which get underway Wednesday night (Aug. 6).
The Bandits have won six straight B.C. senior B titles, including one in 2010 against the T-men.
“It gives us motivation to try to get the B.C. title because it’s something that they’ve had for a number of years now,” said Mike Maughan, coach of the Acme men.
Nanaimo won the season series versus Tri-City, two games to one.
“We’re a good team and I think our record proved that, but it’s also nice to beat them along the way and kind of reaffirm our confidence in our abilities,” Maughan said. “So hopefully that bodes well.”
Nanaimo (15-2-1) has home-floor advantage over Tri-City (15-3), which will be especially crucial in Game 1 and Game 3, as Game 5, if necessary, would be in Victoria.
“Hopefully we can use the home floor, get the crowd on our side and jump out on them early,” said the coach. “We’re confident, once we get a good lead, that we can see it through.”
Maughan said his team will need to limit its mistakes and take advantage on special teams. The Timbermen were successful scoring goals in five-on-five situations in the semifinals but that task will become tougher in the finals.
"They're definitely going to be a tough team to break down," Maughan said. "Hopefully we've put in the guys heads to to that extra bit of work to get to the tough areas, get in and create goal-scoring chances."
GAME ON … Game 1 is tonight (Aug. 6) at 7 p.m. at Frank Crane Arena. Tickets will be available at the door. Game 2 is Saturday (Aug. 9) in Coquitlam and Game 3 is Sunday at 6 p.m. at Frank Crane Arena.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com
WCSLA finals schedule. Game 5, if necessary, is in Victoria, so Acme T-men hope for good crowds in the meantime… pic.twitter.com/hh7NbGXbJQ
— Greg Sakaki (@BulletinSports) August 5, 2014