The Burnaby Lakers are a little bit older, hopefully a little wiser, but almost assuredly the men in green and gold will be a whole lot better when the Western Lacrosse Association season opener kicks off on Friday.
Gone are the down days, when the 2009 senior A Lakers finished dead-last in the summer league with just two wins to rub together.
Since then, beginning with success in the subsequent junior drafts, Burnaby is a team waiting to come into its own.
With top draft picks and Burnaby's top scorers last season, Dane Stevens, Scott Jones, Casey Jackson and Colton Clark, all expected back, expectations are high that this just might be the year for a quantum leap up the WLA table.
With two first-round righthanders, Robert Church from Coquitlam, who had a 100-plus season in his rookie year of junior, and big New Westminster sniper Tyler Digby, also joining the roster in 2013 - that's a lot of firepower up front.
"I think this group is still young, but one year makes a lot of difference," said former Laker lefthander and new head coach Rory McDade, who took over from Bob Johnston in the off season. "We're looking forward to see who jumps up and can make the jump to the next level."
That jump will not just be expected from the offensive zone players. With the goaltending tandem of Dan Lewis and veteran Joe Bell back between the pipes, the Lakers are rock solid where it counts.
Burnaby lost Chris Manwaring to work commitments this season, but with NLL pros Matt Beers, Pete McFetridge and Justin Salt back leading the way up the floor, and captain Bryan Safarik and Mike Brascia manning the back end - the Lakers are servi-cable in the defensive zone as well.
No-shows this season include Trevor Moore, due to work commitments, and Mat Quinton, who is staying in Calgary this summer.
But with an overabundance of righthanders on the roster, McDade said this year's Lakers will have to be innovative.
"We'll have to adjust our strategy. . and some guys might have to adjust their roles," added McDade, who enlisted former Laker defender Rory Graham to assist him with the defence this season.
Last year, Burnaby underachieved on the power play, scoring just 35 times on 114 opportunities.
The Lakers were much more successful on the penalty kill, allowing a near-league low 33 goals and stopping opposition power plays two-thirds of the time.
The Lakers also had a mediocre 4-4-1 record - one of the worst in the league on home floor.
What was partly at fault was Burnaby's inconsistent showing in its season series with bottom-finishing clubs Nanaimo Timbermen and Maple Ridge Burrards.
The Lakers will get a good first look at the Timbermen, when they kick off the WLA season against the Vancouver Island club this Friday.
Burnaby will play Nanaimo three times in the opening month of the season.
The following week, the Lakers will travel to Victoria before closing the month of May at home against what should be a much-improved Burrards club .
Burnaby will kick off the WLA season against Nanaimo at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre on Friday. Game time is 7 p.m.
