There was a positive side for Burnaby Lakers general manager Richard Appels to having the team be ousted from the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League playoffs Wednesday.

"I can go on holidays," laughed Appels. "For the first time in August I won't be involved in lacrosse so I can go on holidays."

The Jr. Lakers have had a long tradition of getting to the Minto Cup. Last year they had to settle for the BCJALL final. But this year, many didn't even expect the Lakers to get as far as they did, which was the deciding game of the league semifinal against the first-place Coquitlam Adanacs.

The best-of-five series was tied 2-2 heading into Game 5 Wednesday. The A's had won the first two and the Lakers the second two, which was one more loss than Coquitlam had in 21 regular-season games. But on Wednesday, the A's jumped out to a 6-0 first-period lead and extended it to 7-0 in the second before cruising to a 12-4 victory.

"We surprised the hell out of everybody again. Burnaby will never be done," said Appels. "We just scared the hell out of them. On paper, yes, Coquitlam is the better team. But the thing is they always, in the playoffs especially, tend to go for a dive. We know what to do in the playoffs."

The Lakers began the season winning just one game in their first eight. Riley Loewen seemed to be the only one able to score. But then Jackson Decker returned from his freshmen season at Limestone College in Gaffney, S.C., and defender Matt Miyashita from his commitments to the Simon Fraser field lacrosse team. Long-time Jr. Laker, Shaun Dhaliwal also came back to the fold after the Canadian Lacrosse Association wouldn't approve an attempt to transfer him to Ontario.

Decker, 19, had 18 goals and 34 points in 12 regular season games before having his coming-out party in the playoffs with 12 goals and 26 points in seven games. Coquitlam traded him to Langley and the Thunder later shipped him to Burnaby.

"They said he wouldn't make Coquitlam's roster or be a junior A player," said Appels. "We laughed at them.

"And the rest of the league laughed at them too."

Appels also did some mid-season wheeling and dealing, getting Mitch Dibblee, Mike King and goalies Ray Hodgkinson and Brodie MacDonald. The result was a 10-3 record after the ugly start.

"It all came together," said Appels.

Dhaliwal also had 26 points (8-18) in the playoffs, which leads the league, while Loewen was a point behind them (16-9).

Along with Dhaliwal, key defenders Miyashita, Ross Dougan, Matt King and Cam Appels as well as Hodgkinson have had their junior careers come to an end.

"We're going to be working on our defence next year," said Richard Appels, who pointed out the Burnaby intermediate program has some good defensive players.

"Next year we're going to have a good team. We have 16 players coming back. We've got a good core and some very good rookies, so we'll be in the running next year."

• Dhaliwal, Loewen, Jaxson Lee and Chris Macey scored goals Wednesday. With the win the Adanacs advanced to the league final against the New Westminster Salmonbellies.

ggranger@burnabynewsleader.com