On Friday night the WLA action heats up as the Victoria Shamrocks face off against the Burnaby Lakers. These two teams are tied for second place in the WLA. This is a huge game for both teams as whichever team wins this game will move into a tie with the Langley Thunder for first place in the WLA.
These two teams have faced twice so far this season. Victoria won the first game 11-7 while Burnaby picked up the win in the second game as they won 10-9 in overtime. Both matchups between these two teams have been close.  Expect Friday’s game to be no different as first place is on the line so both teams will be highly motivated to get a win.
The Burnaby Lakers are coming off a hard fought win against the Coquitlam Adanacs where they won 11-10 in overtime. The Lakers will look to continue their momentum and notch a win over Victoria. Burnaby will have Dan Lewis back from injury. Burnaby will also have Dane Stevens back who missed two games due to suspension. Burnaby in order to win this game will need to play tight on defense and prevent Victoria’s offense from spreading them out. If Burnaby can force Victoria to shoot from the outside and prevent them from getting in close they will be in a good position to win this game. Burnaby on offense will want to constantly generate shots on net and make Matt Flindell work in net. Burnaby will have their hands full with Victoria but can win this game as long as they play their game and do not get sucked into playing Victoria’s run and gun game.
The Victoria Shamrocks are coming off a 12-10 win over New Westminster and will look to prove to Burnaby that they are the better team. Victoria will be backstopped by Matt Flindell in net. Flindell will look to continue his strong play as he has 8.32 goals against average this season and a .816 save percentage. Victoria will need their offense to be firing on all cylinders in order to beat Burnaby. Victoria will need the trio of Jeff Shattler, Ryan Benesch and Corey Small to spread the ball around and open up space on the floor in order to generate chances on net. Victoria will want to jump out to an early lead and force Burnaby to work from behind so that they will become focused on offense and start to make mistakes defensively. Victoria needs to be vigilant on defense and force turnovers so they can capitalize in the transition game. Victoria needs to keep a close eye on Dane Stevens and Scott Jones in order to prevent them from generating scoring chances. Victoria will need to play good defense but their offensive depth will give them the edge in this matchup.
Canada Day may not be till Sunday but there will be fireworks when these two teams meet on Friday night. This will be a back and forth matchup so be sure to tune in at 7:45 Pacific time on playfullscreen.com to catch all the action.
