The junior A Nanaimo Timbermen’s remarkable turnaround season will continue into the playoffs.
The Timbermen, for the first time since 2011, have qualified for the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League playoffs as they finished with a 14-7 record, good for fourth place. The record represents 11 more wins than 2018.
“Hard to believe that a team at 3-18 [last year] all of a sudden could start thinking about playoffs, but we had that goal early and we stuck with our plans and we knew we had to play right to the end,” said Dave Bremner, coach and general manager of the junior A Timbermen.
The T-men closed out the regular season with two more wins on the final weekend as they beat the Burnaby Lakers 13-8 on Saturday at the Nanaimo Ice Centre and then handled the Delta Islanders 15-7 on Sunday on the road.
“Overall, I’m very happy with the way we’re playing; I like the tempo we play with…” said Bremner. “If we want to be a championship team there’s lots to work on all the time and eventually, if you get them clicking and making the least amount of mistakes, then you should be in a good place.”
The Timbermen will face the Coquitlam Adanacs in a best-of-seven semifinal starting this coming weekend on the mainland. The Adanacs are defending champions and although the T-men beat the A’s twice in the regular season, Coquitlam has since bolstered its lineup and goes into the series as the favourite.
“The makeup of their team has changed quite a bit with some acquisitions at the trade deadline, but regardless, we knew that we would have to go through them at some point,” Bremner said.
He said it will be a good series, “fun-filled, fast-paced, lots of mistakes.”
GAME ON … The BCJALL has not yet finalized the series schedule but the first two games are expected to take place on the mainland and Game 3 isn’t likely to happen until the weekend of July 20-21.
editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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