Morning Star Staff
For the second straight year, the Armstrong Shamrocks and Kelowna Raiders will meet in the Thompson Okanagan Senior Lacrosse League’s Shaw Cup best-of-three championship final.
The series starts Wednesday in Armstrong with the defending champion Shamrocks – who won the Shaw Cup in 2015 – hosting the Raiders at the Nor-Val Sports Centre (7:30 p.m.).
Game 2 will go Friday at the Kelowna Memorial Arena and, if a third game is necessary for a second straight year, it will be played at Hassen Arena Sunday, Aug. 7.
The Raiders advanced to the Shaw Cup finals with a 15-8 win over the Kamloops Rattlers Thursday night in Kelowna to take the series 2-1.
Shamrocks coach Ryan Nitchie is expecting a typical emotional and fast-paced series.
“They are a solid team with some good veteran leadership and are well coached but we’ve played them tough all year,” said Nitchie, whose squad took four of five regular season games against Kelowna.
“Both teams really want to win and my feeling is that the best defence will win the series – I’m very confident in our defensive capabilities.”
The Irish (7-3) were a league-best +37 in goals for and against differential, scoring a league-high 112 and allowing a league-low 75 against. The Raiders were -7 (85-92).
Kelowna started the year 0-5 but won four of their final five games to go 4-6, the same as Kamloops. The Raiders finished second for winning the season series.
Of concern for coach Nitchie is the team’s unusually long layoff. It will be 25 days in between games for the club going into Game 1.
“The schedule was messed up at the end of the year and this should have been wrapped up by now,” said Nitchie. “The long layoff is not helpful, but I think after a period we’ll get the rust off the sticks. We have great skill and ability and we’ll get back into it quick.”
The Shamrocks are anticipating a capacity crowd at the Nor-Val Sports Centre Wednesday night.
“Our guys feed off the energy in the crowd and we hope the community gets behind us on this playoff run,” said Nitchie. “Our goal is to repeat as champions.”
The Raiders are making their sixth straight appearance in the Shaw Cup final.
