Clarington Green Gaels ready for postseason

CLARINGTON -- It's go time.

That's the message Jason Crosbie offered to his Clarington Green Gaels, as they prepare for the 2009 Ontario Lacrosse Association's Jr. B league playoffs.

"You get to a point in the regular season, especially with the way we kind of rolled through, where it gets a little mundane," said Crosbie, referring to the several blowout games his 19-1 team was involved in. "It's not boring, but you want some more excitement."

They received a small taste of that earlier this month in the form of their first and only loss of the season, 4-1 to Newmarket, and Crosbie said after that night, there has been a noticeable difference in how his club has gone about its business, adding that can only mean good things with the postseason on the horizon.

"They really kind of pushed it," he said of their final two games, wins over Markham 21-5 and Huntsville 17-3. "The coaching staff and I were like: 'Wow, this is sort of a different team than the one we've seen the last eight games.'

"It's nice to see because that will happen through the playoffs," he added of having to rebound from adversity.

However, it's not likely to happen through the opening round with the first-place Green Gaels likely to square off against the eight-seeded Nepean Knights.

"There is a 99.9-per cent chance it's them," Crosbie noted, in advance of Nepean's game against Cornwall Tuesday (after our deadline). "Even if they do win that game, they only tie Markham (with 16 points) and Markham has a better goals for and against so it will be Nepean unless there is some other formula they'll use to break a tie."

The Raiders brought a 6-11-2 record into play last night. In their previous meeting this season, the Green Gaels posted an 11-5 victory, but it was far from their most complete effort of the season, according to Crosbie.

"When we played them we didn't play very well. It was a back-to-back night and we were pretty sluggish," he said.

In fact, their indifferent play that night carried into their next contest, which was that aforementioned loss to Newmarket.

With a roster featuring Ryan Serville, who, barring a huge game last night from Newmarket's Patrick Lee, will have captured the scoring title with 41-56-97 totals, and Zach Palmer (31-59-90), Curtis Knight (35-42-77) and Shayne Jackson (33-33-66), the Green Gaels certainly have the offence to blow away the Knights, whose leading scoring heading into Tuesday's game was Brett Lewandowsky (25-30-55).

And after allowing a league-low 71 goals against, the defence appears to be in fine form as well, led by goalie Zack Higgins.

Furthermore, up and down the roster, depth at every position has created a problem for Crosbie when it comes time to scribble out the lineup card.

"It's not set in stone ... but basically I pretty much have my lineup set where it's going to be flip-flopped between a few people depending on what rink we're in and what I want. They'll be in and out.

"It's not a reflection of skill. It's not a reflection of an attitude or personality conflict. It's just a numbers thing," he adds of the bubble players. "I want them to be in the lineup and I want them to make me have to make tough decisions."

As of deadline, a playoff schedule had yet to be released, but the best-of-five series will likely start in the next few days.