The senior B Nanaimo Timbermen are about to begin playing for a championship.
The T-men take the floor this weekend (Aug. 6-7) for Game 1 and Game 2 of their best-of-five series against the Langley Warriors for the West Coast Senior Lacrosse Association championship.
The Warriors basically led the league from wire to wire in 2016 and Mike Maughan, Timbermen coach, said Langley was the first-place team for a reason.
“They’re a solid team from top to bottom,” he said. “They’ve got some top-end scorers and their defence has been stingy all year and they even strengthened their goaltending near the end of the year.”
The Warriors swept the North Shore Indians in the semis, and limited the opponents to one goal in one of the games. The Timbermen think they can find a way to create the offence they’ll need.
“We’ve definitely got the capable scorers,” Maughan said. “It’s just a matter of making sure we’re not too stagnant in the things that we do and making sure we’re not settling for perimeter shots. We’ve really got to make sure we penetrate their defence and break them down.”
The Timbermen will be continuing to play for player-manager Shawn Swanson, who had neck surgery over the weekend and is recovering, joking in a Facebook post that he’ll be a game-time decision for Saturday’s Game 1.
So there’s no shortage of motivation for the Timbermen.
“We’re three wins away from another trip to the Presidents’ Cup, so we’re really close,” Maughan said. “But we’ve got a tough opponent so we’re going to need to be at our best and make sure we’re ready to go when the time comes.”
GAME ON … Game 1 is Saturday at noon in Langley and Game 2 will be Sunday (Aug. 7) at 5 p.m. at the Nanaimo Ice Centre. Tickets will be available at the door.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com