Aug 15, 2007 -- Classy Coquitlam Adanacs’ veteran Jason Wulder flipped a couple souvenir balls to young fans in the stands following Monday night’s pre-game warm-up. As for the Burnaby Lakers, the Adanacs gave them nothing.

Goalie Chris Levis and the A’s dogged defensive cast were dynamite in derailing the Lakers for a 9-4 Western Lacrosse Association series-clinching triumph at Coquitlam Sports Centre.

The A’s victory wrapped up the best-of-seven semifinal showdown in six games and set up a meeting with the first-place New Westminster Salmonbellies. Game 1 in the best-of-seven WLA final goes tomorrow (Thursday), 7:45 p.m., at Queen’s Park Arena, with Game 2 slated for the same time Sunday at the Sports Centre. Game 3 bounces back to New West on Monday.

Despite making 45 saves, including 22 of 23 shots in the second period, Levis insisted later he did “nothing special.”

“I think our [defensive] guys did a good job keeping everybody to the outside and giving me good looks early on,” Levis said. “Burnaby weren’t getting the best opportunity to get good shots off. I got warm and as the game goes on, and that makes my job easier.”

If the A’s are indeed going to knock off the Salmonbellies, it’s going to take a defensive effort as determined as the one they exhibited Monday. That, and timely goals from snipers like veteran Dan Stroup, who whipped in three –– with his stunning off-balance, low-corner rocket from 35 feet out upping the A’s lead to 5-1 –– to help eliminate the Lakers.

Still, the ever-humble Stroup thought Levis, not he, should have earned the game ball the A’s dish out in the dressing room after every victory.

“He [Levis] should have got it,” Stroup stated. “They only scored four [goals] and a few of those were powerplays. The defence did their job. It made our job easy.”

The Lakers’ offence had anything but a simple time penetrating the hulking likes of Bruce Murray, Rich Catton and the Wray brothers, Devan and Taylor.

“The difference was their defence tightened up and we had trouble scoring,” said the Lakers’ Spencer Martin, a former Coquitlam Jr. Adanac who scored one his team’s goals and earned third-star status. “They were tightening up their zone and we weren’t getting to the middle, so [Levis] could stand out on his crease and cut the angles down. When we did, we didn’t put it in.”

Stroup said handling the Lakers, who finished second to the A’s third and scored only three fewer goals than the potent Salmonbellies during the regular season, was good preparation for the A’s heading into New West.

“I think it’s a good reminder what it takes to win a series,” Stroup said. “Burnaby’s a great team. We just ended up out-lasting them and the defence really came through. I think it’s bringing us together for the final series. Yeah, New West is going to be tough but we have to play the same way and hope for the best.”

Levis concurred that the A’s appear to be peaking at the right time.

“The chemistry is definitely there,” he said. “I think New West is going to see a different team than they did during the regular season. I like our match-ups.”

Lakers head coach Russ Heard also senses that momentum has swung in the A’s favour.

“It’s going to be an interesting series [for the A’s] with New West because New West may underestimate them,” Heard said.

“The way Coquitlam’s playing defence right now, I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t beat New West.”

As for the Lakers, they surprised many by racing to a 4-0 start during the regular-season and finishing second despite a massive off-season player exodus. Many, that is, except the Lakers themselves, Martin said.

“We expected to be here,” he insisted. “We didn’t expect to lose this round. We knew we’ve got good fast guys... a good core team. We just came up a little short in the end. We’re looking good for next year. We’ll just have to try again, I guess.”

RAG LINE: After Stroup’s three, Andy Secore was next on the A’s with two tallies. A’s singles went to Wulder, Colin Doyle, Daryl Veltman and Peter Veltman. Doyle, Secore and Trent Smalley also dished out three assists apiece... A’s Curt Malawsky remained out Monday with a knee injury and is listed day-to-day heading into the New West series, Coquitlam GM Les Wingrove said.

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