Victoria Shamrocks in Burnaby on Thursday to open Western Lacrosse Association playoffs

Victoria Shamrocks at Burnaby Lakers Semi-Final game 1 preview

Thursday August 3rd, 6pm, Bill Copeland arena

Written by Justis Doucet

Last season the Victoria Shamrocks and Burnaby Lakers battled for seven games in the first round of the WLA Playoffs, with the Shamrocks prevailing. This year the roles have reversed as the Lakers finished as the regular season champion.

The Shamrocks and Lakers faced each other three times in the regular season, with Burnaby taking two of three. Victoria won the opener at home 11-6 on May 26th, the Shamrocks second game of the year. Burnaby then responded with a win on their home floor 7-4 July 21st. Thus setting up a rubber match in Victoria's final regular season game, a 14-8 Laker win.

Corey Small set a career high with eighty-eight points this season, surpassing his previous record of eighty-six. Burnaby has the next two highest scorers, Eli McLaughlin played in seventeen games, all but the first meeting with Victoria, scored a point in every game and finished with sixty-seven. Robert Church was just two points behind his teammate with sixty-five. Casey Jackson rounded out the top five with sixty points.

Special teams have a chance to swing the series; Victoria owns the top power play unit at 44% (40/91) and will face off against Burnaby's league best penalty kill (73%). The Lakers have also scored the most shorthanded goals (14), Victoria is third with nine.

Game two is Saturday in Victoria with game four on Wednesday with a reminder that all games start at 6pm.

Pay Per View: http://wlalacrosse.com/view/wla/wla-tv

Game stats: http://westernlacrosse.wttstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=3170676

Regular season stats to date: http://westernlacrosse.wttstats.pointstreak.com/scoringleaders.html?leagueid=258

Shamrocks stats: http://westernlacrosse.wttstats.pointstreak.com/teamplayerstats.html?teamid=31984&seasonid=17042

Next game HOME (Game 2 in best of 7 series): Saturday August 5th vs Burnaby Lakers, 6pm at The Q Centre in Victoria. Tickets HERE or by calling 250-478-7625.