Aug 22, 2007 -- The players themselves will tell you the most vital component to the Coquitlam Adanacs’ success so far has been their heads. Ironically, that’s exactly what New Westminster Salmonbellies head coach Bob Salt was calling for with some of his own guys Monday night.

Salt was upset with the character and effort from a mittful of ’Bellies following their 10-6 loss to the Adanacs in a pivotal Western Lacrosse Association playoff game at Queen’s Park Arena. The result gave the A’s a 3-0 stranglehold on the best-of-seven showdown, with a chance to sweep the series tonight (Wednesday) at Coquitlam Sports Centre, 7:45 p.m.

“We had three or four guys that played just terrible, absolutely awful,” stated Salt, who elected not to name names. “We had some guys that are absolutely not going and that upset me. I’m telling you they will not be back next year. I’m telling them that right to their face. I’m pissed off.”

The Adanacs bolted to a 3-0 lead before the game was eight minutes old and the shaky Salmonbellies couldn’t pull so much as within one goal the rest of the way.

Some players on the well-aged A’s said later it’s their collective mind that is running even better than their veteran legs, which have surprisingly been able to keep pace just fine with the spry, explosive Salmonbellies.

“We’re just playing like a unit... just playing hard lacrosse,” said A’s face-off genius Geoff Snider, who’s also one of the team’s stalwart defensive players. “Everybody’s committed. The guys really care about one another. I think that’s helping us pull this thing together. Every time we have five guys on the floor, everybody’s watching each other’s back and nobody’s stepping outside their role. Everybody’s doing their job and playing great lacrosse.”

The Salmonbellies out-shot the A’s 53-41, including 25-11 in the second period, but had trouble penetrating the middle of the A’s tough-as-oak defensive box. That allowed Coquitlam goalie Chris Levis to come out and challenge the New West shooters, who hit him square in the ‘A’ on his chest so often it began to look like target practice.

Still, A’s head coach Rod Jensen credited Levis –– and his determined defensive cast –– for their strong play in both the New West series so far and the previous six-game semifinal victory over the fleet Burnaby Lakers.

“Levis is giving us a great lift,” Jensen said. “We’re a hard-hitting defensive team. Right now, I think our defence is really wearing them down. We can go play five-on-five and there’s no secret we’re going to be tough to beat. Both teams’ strategies, Burnaby and New West, was to run us and they haven’t been able to do it.”

Colin Doyle again rallied the A’s offence with a goal and two assists, giving him a whopping 20 points in the three series games thus far. Yet he, too, insisted it’s his team’s healthy attitude and staunch defence that has put it within one win of hosting the Mann Cup national championship.

“Our focus going into every game is not necessarily to get a one-, two- or three-nothing lead,” said Doyle, who had nine points in the A’s 15-5 Game 1 triumph last Thursday in New West and another eight in their 14-11 Game 2 victory Sunday in Coquitlam. “It’s just to go out and play solid lacrosse and try to get out there and win every period. At the end of the day, it certainly is nice to be where we’re at and we owe it all to defence, goaltending and hard work. There’s not a whole lot else to say. We’re working hard and we’re a good team when we work hard.”

Doyle did add that he believes the A’s offence, which continually moves the ball and, in the end, often parks it in the back of the net, has been under-estimated to a degree.

“I think a lot of people wrote us off because of our age,” Doyle said. “We’ve got some good ballplayers, some smart ballplayers. I’ve always said, and our belief is, if six guys can get two [goals each], we’re going to be tough to stop. Each night, we try to spread it out and whoever steps up, steps up.”

Monday it was Daryl Veltman who led the A’s scoring brigade with three goals, with two more coming from Jason Wulder. Doyle, Andy Secore, Dan Stroup, Jr. ‘A’ call-up Joel Dalgarno and Scott Whitley, into an empty net with 59 seconds remaining, had singles.

Lanky PoCo product Peter Morgan bagged a goal and three helpers and was second in points on the Salmonbellies to Coquitlam native Athan Iannucci’s goal and four assists.

Morgan, for one, isn’t about to yet concede the series.

“I have confidence in this team and faith in these guys that we can bring it together,” Morgan said. “We haven’t played our best yet, so that’s a positive. I think it’s less of what they’re doing and more of what we need to do. We haven’t lost hope, that’s for sure.”

Salt added the Salmonbellies’ big guns had best come locked and loaded against an A’s team that would love to sew up the series tonight.

“I didn’t think we’d be [down 3-0] but we are,” Salt said. “Their key guys are outplaying our guys. When you put 18 guys on the floor and only 13 are going, you’re in trouble. And their guys are going.”

RAG LINE: ‘Bellies goalie Matt Disher returned from a lower body injury for the first time in the series and made 29 stops on 38 shots before rookie Ron Schibild took over with five minutes left... Craig Conn, the ‘Bellies second-leading scorer to Iannucci this season, remained out with a knee injury suffered in Game 1 of New West’s semifinal series versus the Nanaimo Timbermen. While Conn’s loss is huge, A’s general manager Les Wingrove pointed out his squad has been without its second-leading scorer, veteran Curt Malawsky, due to a knee injury for the series first three games as well. Conn’s gone for the season, while Malawsky is listed day-to-day... A fifth game, if necessary, would shift back to New West tomorrow (Thursday).