Tonight in the WLA the WLA final kicks off as the Langley Thunder host the Victoria Shamrocks. Both teams are coming off sweeps in the first round as Langley decimated Coquitlam and Victoria swarmed over Burnaby. These two teams faced off three times this season with Langley winning the season series 2-1. Langley landed the most dominant victory as they beat Langley 11-6 in the regular season.
Langley’s offense has looked like a juggernaut all season but they took it up to the next level in the playoffs as Garrett Billings and Mark Matthews joined the Thunder. Billings has been dominant with 5 goals and 10 assists for 15 points. While Shayne Jackson has stepped up and notched 6 goals and five assists for 11 points. Look for the Thunder to continue their strong play as they will look to overwhelm Victoria with different offensive combinations in hopes to keep Matt Vinc off balance along with Victoria’s defense.
Victoria had little difficulty dealing with Burnaby thanks to Cory Conway and Corey Small. Conway was the thorn in Burnaby’s side all series notching 6 goals and 12 assists for 18 points in the first round. Victoria had seven players with over ten points in the first round and showed that they have the offensive depth to deal with Langley. Victoria will look to match fire with fire in this series.
Expect this series to be a high scoring affair with it likely coming down to a game seven. Both these teams are even and it will be interesting to see how they adjust to each other in this series.
