Possession will be nine tenths of the law if Nanaimo’s Senior A Timbermen hope to steal Langley’s thunder.
Due to a scheduling quirk the Timbermen are up against rivals Langley Thunder three games straight. Game two happens at Frank Crane Area Staturday (June 18) where the T-men hope to bag a win after an 11-8 loss at home Saturday when they outshot the Thunder 57-46.
T-men coach Kaleb Toth, said this weekend’s matchup is about winning face-offs and keeping possession of the ball.
“We’ve got to get more chances five-on-five and I think the biggest thing is we’ve been trading with the ball a little too much, you know, offensively and defensively, and we lose possession,” Toth said. “You don’t get an opportunity to score and the other team does so we have to value the ball and make sure that when we get the ball we don’t throw it away and we get good scoring opportunities.”
Toth said the Timbermen are bigger, defensively, and more physical than their rivals, but both teams are fast. The key to success Saturday will be holding possession, not rushing the play and taking the time to set up and captitalize on solid scoring opportunities.
Toth is keeping an eye on the Thunder’s runners Cole Schafer and Mitch McMichael, who are adept at snagging face-offs and leading their team on the offence.
“We need to do a better job on the face-offs and try and control their top players,” Toth said.
Having the Timbermen’s full roster back will help too with transition Jordan Cunningham and defence man Mason Pynn back from university.
Nanaimo is currently in sixth position in the Western Lacrosse Association standings. Winning the next two games against Langley could bump Nanaimo into fifth place. From there, Toth said, the T-men need to keep the momentum going with some three- and four-game winning streaks to move up to the top of the standings.
“I definitely thing that’s something that we can do,” Toth said.
