Berg Shines in BCJALL Final Attributes Some Success to Field

Wesley Berg dominated the British Columbia Junior A Lacrosse League Final and there’s an argument that he’s just warming up. 

Article Information | Publisher: The Province, Author: Steve Ewen, Source: theprovince.com, Date: August 4, 2014, Photo Credit: Wesley Berg, shown with the University of Denver, helped the Coquitlam Adanacs to the Junior A box lacrosse provincial title Sunday night. (John Babb, Denver Athletics photo)

The Coquitlam Adanacs right-hander scored five times and set up another marker in a 12-8 win Sunday over the New Westminster Salmonbellies at Queen’s Park Arena in the seventh and deciding game of the provincial final.

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound right-hander tallied 16 goals and 29 points in the series and was named the league’s playoff most valuable player.

Those totals become all the more impressive when you factor in that, including this set with New Westminster, Berg has played just 12 box lacrosse games this summer. Commitments to his University of Denver field team and then the Canadian senior men’s field squad that won the world championships last month in Colorado had limited him to just five regular season games with the Adanacs.

The Salmonbellies (20-1-0) had beaten out the Adanacs (17-3-1) for the regular season crown, and both teams had swept their three-game league semifinals.

“I think I’m starting to get the hang of things again,” said Berg, 21. “It’s tighter spaces than field and it’s a little faster.

“It’s quite a bit different. It takes awhile to get the touch.”

Coquitlam now faces the Alberta champion Calgary Mountaineers in a best-of-five series, starting Thursday at the Poirier Sports and Leisure Complex. The Adanacs host the entire set.

The winner hosts the Ontario champions in the best-of-seven Minto Cup national final. Assuming Coquitlam advances, the Minto will run Aug. 16-24 at the Langley Events Centre.

The Six Nations Arrows are up 3-0 on the reigning Minto champion Whitby Warriors in the best-of-seven Ontario final. Whitby hosts Game 4 on Tuesday.

“We can be a lot better,” said Berg. “We had some games in this series where it was like the whole team was off. Last night, I think we played well as an entire unit. We need to keep playing well as a unit.”

The Minto changed formats this season. It had gone through an 11-year run as a four-team tournament, with champions from B.C., Alberta and Ontario and a host squad. During that time, Alberta teams never won a single game against a B.C. or Ontario team.

“It’s still a five-game series. We’re going to have to bring it from the first game on. It’s a big deal for Alberta,” said Berg.

Whitby beat New Westminster in four games in the best-of-five Minto final last year at Queen’s Park. New Westminster beat Coquitlam 11-7 in the one-game semifinal.

The Adanacs had beaten the Salmonbellies in the fifth and deciding game of the BCJALL Final. They had lost Berg to a season-ending broken right ankle in Game 3 of that series.

Original Article can be found here