Andrew Schwab’s 2018 playoffs started off with a bang.
The prolific scorer for the Westwood Pub Devils was a one-man wrecking crew scoring six goals as his team nabbed the Prince George Senior Lacrosse playoff opener 12-6 over the Quesnel Crossfire in game one of the best-of-three series.
Wednesday’s action from Kin 1 began with five-goal first period outburst from the Devils, which included a hat-trick from Schwab who had the number of Quesnel goaltender Thomas Riestad.
“I was lucky the first goal went in. It is much easier after the first one goes in and it gets pretty easy after that, the last time I played them they’re goalie played pretty well against us and I only scored once the whole night.”
Westwood held a sizeable advantage throughout the contest, holding leads of 5-0 and 10-4 after the opening 40 minutes, something Schwab says was key in controlling the game.
“We wanted to bury them right away so we didn’t have to play a hard three periods we were hoping to beat them in the first and we did it.”
Tempers started to flare late in the third period as a fight broke out between the Crossfire’s Bryston Waffle and the Devils Dylan Long.
The officials decided to throw the rule book at Waffle handing him a five-minute instigator penalty along with a fighting major and three game misconducts.
“They’re guy came in a little late and didn’t like how we were hitting him on the ground and he took exception, the only problem is he picked the wrong guy. Once hatchet (Long) gets his hands free you want to get out of the way, he is lucky his helmet stuck on so tight.”
The defending champs can punch their ticket back to the league Dale Rolufs Final if they can sweep the Crossfire in Quesnel on Monday (July 9th) during game two – a task that will not come in easy on the road.
“It’s going to take some clear heads. It’s going to get chippy, the fans are going to be loud and they are going to be in our heads and we’re going to take stupid penalties – I already know it and hopefully our power-play is good and Quesnel’s is terrible,” added Schwab.
The second semi-final series gets underway on Thursday at 8 PM from Kin 1 as the RPR Mechanical/JR Construction Bandits take on the Mackenzie Lumberjacks.