Backed into the corner once, the New Westminster Salmonbellies are looking to draw from that experience as they face elimination tonight (Friday) in the Mann Cup championship at Queen’s Park.
The Peterborough Lakers racked up
a third straight win, beating the ’Bellies 11-10 Wednesday to grab a 3-2 series lead in the best-of-seven showdown.
The B.C. champions have been in this position before – in the Western Lacrosse Association semifinals against Maple Ridge – and have one new tool in their arsenal: desperation.
Game 5 saw New West open with a pair of goals, but the Lakers responded by counting seven of the next eight to grab a convincing lead.
St. Thomas More alumnus Connor Robinson continued to contribute to the ’Bellies’ cause, tallying the team’s third of the first period. It was his eighth of the series.
Peterborough’s run overlapped into the second period, until Kevin Crowley sparked a New West rally with a clutch powerplay marker. Mitch Jones, who leads all shooters in the Mann Cup with 10 goals and 23 assists, counted two straight goals to make it a one-goal game.
Burnaby’s Drew Belgrave, a junior call-up who has played in all five games on defence/transition, picked up an assist on Jones’ first marker.
The Lakers shot right back as Port Coquitlam native Curtis Dickson sniped the team’s eighth goal, off a turnover 7:24 into the middle frame.
Three minutes later, Jones again got the ’Bellies within one, but Peterborough put up three goals to go ahead 11-7 five minutes into the third.
Refusing to give up, the hosts clawed back on tallies by Logan Schuss, Brett Mydske and Anthony Malcom, but fell short of forcing overtime.
New West’s Jones, who won a Mann Cup title as a member of the Victoria Shamrocks in 2015, said prior to Game 5 it was passion and emotion which drove most players at this stage.
“When it comes down to the Mann Cup, there are a lot of emotions, a lot of passion,” said Jones. “There are guys who have played for years, had a shot at it and haven’t got it.
“There are guys in our locker room who want it bad, and I’m sure there are guys in their locker room who want it just as bad. We’ve got to harness our emotions in the right way and make that into energy, instead of riff-raff and smoke and mirrors kind of stuff.”
If New West wins Game 6 tonight, they’ll play Game 7 on Saturday, 7:30 p.m. at Queen’s Park Arena.
