The junior A Nanaimo Timbermen started lacrosse season with a win, but know they still have a lot of work cut out for them this spring and summer.
The city's B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League squad started the regular season with a convincing 11-6 victory against the Port Coquitlam Saints on Saturday, May 17, at the Nanaimo Ice Centre. Seven straight goals from late in the first period until late in the second period provided the home team with a comfortable margin.
"There's some mistakes you're always going to see in season openers, some clock management, some penalties, some different things, but the one thing I saw was a team that wants to win, a team that wants to hustle and a team that wants to battle and you can't coach that, so it was awesome seeing that in Game 1," said Simon Stocks, the team's coach.
Andrew Bowman, T-men captain, liked his team's effort and said the guys know that while there's a lot to improve on, the goal is to peak at playoff time.
"Pretty happy with how we looked," he said. "I haven't really seen a first game like that in my whole five years, so I'm really happy with where we're starting, but I know we've got a lot to go still."
Bowman pointed out that he's been playing with many of his teammates since he was a pre-schooler, while some teammates he met just a few days before the season opener. He said coaches had set up a couple of plays for man-advantage situation, but other than that, it was just a matter of communicating.
"I'm really impressed with how we clicked early," he said. "You don't see a lot of offences that just meet each other two days ago and go out like that."
Stocks said with the age of his veteran group and their skill level, the expectation is for the team to be a championship contender in the BCJALL this year. Players are aware of those expectations and will embrace the challenge.
"We've just got to continue building, we can't regress, we've got to keep getting better in practice and every game," Bowman said.
He led his team with four goals in the season opener, while Matt Boas and Logan Schmidt scored a pair each. Keegan Okino made 30 saves for the win. The next day, the junior T-men were defeated 10-5 on the road by the Delta Islanders. Jeremy Wudrick had three points in that one and Okino made 39 saves.
GAME ON … The junior A Timbermen host the Islanders on Saturday, May 24, at 3 p.m. at the Nanaimo Ice Centre, then visit the Coquitlam Adanacs on Sunday, May 25.
