The New Westminster Jr. Salmonbellies have done a lot of knocking at the door in recent years. Next year, vows general manager Doug Zack, it’s time to kick it in.

The Coquitlam Adanacs withstood a wounded but stubborn Salmonbellies squad to take the 2009 B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League final. The knockout blow came Friday at Queen’s Park Arena when the A’s beat the ’Bellies 6-5 to give Coquitlam the best-of-seven series 4-2.

The Salmonbellies played much of the series without Curtis Dickson, Tyler Digby, Eric Lewthwaite and T.J. Cowx—key offensive players who accounted for 104 regular-season goals.

“That’s a big chunk of goals to try and replace,” said Zack. “We were close. We were outgunned at the end. Too many key injuries and key losses proved to be just too much.”

Dickson taped up his injured shoulder and played Friday scoring two goals and an assist. Cowx and Lewthwaite were still too injured to play while Digby missed the entire series because he had to go to Pittsburgh for his first football training camp at Robert Morris University.

“[Dickson] was at best 60 per cent and he still scored a couple of goals. That just shows you the kind of player he is with the heart he had to come back,” said Zack.

Although the A’s lost only one regular season game, the Salmonbellies gave them all they could handle. Until Friday, all the games in the series had been won by the home team. In Game 6, Coquitlam took a 6-2 lead after two periods, but the Salmonbellies snuck back in the game. Kevin Crowley, New West’s leading scorer in both the regular season and playoffs, had three goals and two assists.

“They’ve got a lot of team speed and in the end that definitely proved to be a real hard thing for us to match,” said Zack.

He felt New West’s defence and goaltender Neil Tyacke matched up with their Coquitlam counterparts, but offensively the Salmonbellies couldn’t quite match the Adanacs. He praised Mark Negrin, Daniel McQuade, Justin Salt and Leif Mydske for stepping up with so many injured players. McQuade, for example, had 16 goals and 35 points in 12 playoff games after collecting 23 points in 15 games during the regular season.

The Salmonbellies finished third during the regular season but took care of second-place Victoria quite easily in the semifinals to reach the league final for the first time since 1996.

“We took a big step this year,” said Zack.

New West will lose some key cogs in Crowley, Dickson and Tyacke as well as stalwart defensive players Ben Davies, Brett Mydske and Craig Smith.

“They’re big shoes to fill, but it is only six as opposed to last year when we had 11 or 12 we were trying to replace,” said Zack. “So we’re a little bit more ahead come next year, so we feel fairly confident we’ll be able to start where we finished off.”

Since the Adanacs only lose four players, Zack already has them penciled in as the top team next year, but he believes the Salmonbellies won’t be far behind. The A’s will not only be advancing to this year’s Minto Cup in Brampton, Ont., but to the 2010 tournament as well as the host team, although the games will be played at Queen’s Park.

“It’s going to be on me and on the team, we have to get to where we were this year and beyond,” said Zack. “No more being polite, we’ve got to kick the door in this time.

• Brett Mydske has been named the BCJALL’s top defensive player in 2009 while Crowley is the top graduating player. Both also made the league’s first all-star team while Dickson is on the second team.

sports@newwestnewsleader.com