The Victoria Shamrocks cut open the New Westminster Salmonbellies in all three Western Lacrosse Association regular-season matchups this season, but realize it will be a tougher test to land the same fish in the post-season.

The Shamrocks, 14-2-2 in the regular season, take on the Salmonbellies (9-9-0) in Game 1 of the best-of-seven WLA semifinal series tonight at 7:45 at The Q Centre.

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Victoria head coach Bob Heyes expects a much different Salmonbellies team from the one his Shamrocks defeated 9-7 and 11-10 early in the year and clubbed 13-5 just three weeks ago. Since that loss, New West has won four straight.

“It’s the playoffs. They will have a different looking team,” Heyes said of the Salmonbellies, who did not have Logan Schuss in the lineup for the three games.

“He’s a guy that gives a different dynamic to their offence and Cliff Smith, who just came in at the deadline, who has been part of their club for a few years, is another veteran so they will have a formidable offence, for sure.”

Smith did play in the 13-5 thumping, but the ’Bellies were without Jordan McBride for the last two head-to-head clashes, who did have three goals and three assists in the first outing against Victoria.

“That’s three guys who make a difference on offence,” said Tyler Burton, who has been outstanding on defence for the Shamrocks, the stingiest team in the league.

“We never saw their full team in any of the regular-season games and we expect a hard-fought series in the first round. Defensively, we have to keep playing the way we’re playing,” added Burton. “We have to make them take the shots we want, force them down the outside and let our offensive guys get on a roll, like they have been. It’s about playing our game.”

That’s the directive Heyes has delivered to his troops as the Shamrocks start defence of their 2013 WLA championship.

“My message to my team is, we all have goals, as an organization, to get back to where we were last year, but it has to be what I stressed last year — a game at a time,” Heyes stressed. “A series at a time, and you can even break it down further to a shift at a time.

“Playoffs can change on just one play. We learned a lot last year, when we lost Corey Small [to knee injury]. It became a rallying point for us. We’ve been through this. There is a core group of guys who went through what we did last year and I’m going to count on that experience to get us through.”

And he expects the clash to be a war, as is usually the case in WLA playoffs.

“It’s going to be a physical series,” said Heyes. “I expect to see two teams that really transition the ball well, so it should be a real good series.”

Heyes should have everyone available to him as Tyler Hass, who missed the last two games of the regular season, is expected back. The coach should have a full complement of players to draw from and should have healthy scratches every night.

Following tonight’s game, the scene shifts to New Westminster for Game 2 on Friday before the Shamrocks play host to Game 3 on Sunday, with both those starts set for 6 p.m.

• In the other semifinal which also starts tonight, Burnaby 11-7 faces Maple Ridge 9-8-1. Burnaby won the regular-season series 2-1 with 12-8 and 8-7 wins after an initial 10-8 loss.

mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com

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