In terms of NBA equivalent jersey colour schemes, it’s the Los Angeles Lakers versus the Boston Celtics whenever the Coquitlam Adanacs and Victoria Shamrocks meet in the Western Lacrosse Association.
And much like the Lakers, the Adanacs have seen better days. Coquitlam fell to 2-7 on the season following the Shamrocks’ 14-6 victory Friday night at The Q Centre.
The Shamrocks, meanwhile, are trying to avoid the Celtics’ fate this year of showing a lot of promise with Kyrie Irving but failing to ignite.
But ignition seems to have finally happened for the ’Rocks (4-4), who won their third consecutive game and fourth in five games after starting 0-3.
Victoria was missing veteran snipers Tyson Gibson, Jesse King and Casey Jackson.
But an emerging freshman class more than made up the absences with a big night.
Chris Boushy and Larson Sundown both recorded hat tricks with five assists for Sundown and three by Boushy.
Fellow rookies Marshal King added a hat trick and two assists and Keegan Bell two goals and two assists. Victoria’s 2018 first-round draft pick, Cole Pickup, technically also a rookie after sitting out last season, had a goal and four assists.
“We had no choice but to go with our youth tonight, and it shows our depth,” said Shamrocks head coach Bob Heyes.
It was a strange night for Keegan Bell, whose dad, Bob Bell was head coach of the Adanacs until this month before resigning along with his whole staff.
“It was just another game and the next game up,” said Keegan Bell, Victoria’s first-round pick in the 2019 WLA draft.
“I have played against my dad before.”
This was more about the Shamrocks, he said, not Coquitlam bench shakeups.
“It’s a business. What I am really looking forward to is the next few years we have with our young group, not to mention the rest of this season,” Keegan Bell said.
“I am very proud of this rookie class. We are meshing together well, as you could see on the floor tonight.”
The win was especially sweet for upstate New York product Sundown, the Shamrocks’ 2019 second-round draft selection and NCAA Div. II runner-up this season with Limestone College, who won the Minto Cup national Junior ‘A’ championship last year with Coquitlam.
It’s too bad for the WLA Adanacs that they don’t get to keep the graduating players out of the Coquitlam junior powerhouse.
Those players get dispersed to other teams through the WLA draft.
But the senior Adanacs team did have the first pick in the 2019 draft and took the sport’s goaltender of the future, Chris Del Bianco, whose time has already come as he backstopped the Calgary Roughnecks to the pro National Lacrosse League championship this spring.
The Adanacs, however, this week lent Del Bianco to contender Maple Ridge for the rest of this season in return for the Burrards’ first-round draft picks two of the next three seasons.
It is considered an outstandingly astute deal for the rebuilding Adanacs, one of the smallest WLA teams in recent memory. They are unlikely to get a sniff of the playoffs this season and would have just wasted Del Bianco’s rookie WLA season.
The Coquitlam crease duties have fallen to older brother Giulio Del Bianco and Andrew Gallant, the latter who made 43 saves Friday.
Cody Hagedorn, who let in the first shot against him, regrouped to block 37 shots for the Shamrocks.
Also scoring for Victoria were Nick Preston and Graeme Hossack, the latter with two assists.
