Sentinel secondary senior boys soccer coach Rob Inman is a man with a constant eye on the weather forecast.
Every time I've spoken to him for a story he's brought up what the weather is expected to be like for any important upcoming games. His forecasting faith is so keen that he used it as motivation for his team when they went on the road to take on Cariboo Hill in the North Shore/Burnaby zone provincial AA playoffs on Tuesday, Nov. 5. If the Spartans won the game they would advance straight to the B.C. championships. Lose and they'd have to face a win-or-go-home playoff game two days later. The provincial berth on the line provided a lot of incentive, but Inman found even more motivation for his boys coming from Environment Canada.
"It's going to rain on Thursday and I don't want to be standing out here on Thursday in the rain," he told his team before they took the field. "Guys, do me a favour. I don't want to get wet."
Whether it was the threat of elimination or the threat of saturation that did it, the Spartans obliged their coach and cruised to a 3-1 win to book their spot in the championships which begin tomorrow at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex West.
The win capped off a season that saw the Spartans lose only one game on their way to winning the North Shore AA regular season title as well as the North Shore banner with a 2-1 win over AAA league champs Sutherland Oct. 29. Inman likes what he's seen from his team as they've stormed through the playoffs.
"It's almost scary - they're so calm and collected," he said, adding that the team put on a great display of ball control and one-touch passing in their provincial qualifier. "They're like the Sedins. In the last game against Cariboo Hill, I thought I was watching the Sedins on a soccer field."
The coach, however, stopped short of using his forecasting powers to offer a definitive prediction about how the team will fare at the provincial championships.
"I hate to say how much confidence I have, but I do have a lot of confidence," he said with a laugh. "I don't know how we're going to do here, we're seeing every team for the first time.. .. I feel really good about these guys. But with that said, we could go out and lose the first game."
The Spartans are an experienced bunch though and they know how important every single game is at provincials. The team is made up of just two Grade 11 players with the rest coming from Grade 12. The entire starting lineup and several bench players were on the team last season when they went to provincials and finished in fifth place despite losing only one game.
"Last year two of our boys won the Golden Boot award, we (scored the most goals) and the only game we lost was 1-0 with seven minutes left in the game off of a corner, which was a bit of a fluke," said Inman.
This year the team has been on a mission to get back to that same spot and this time go all the way. Their only blemish of the year was a 5-2 loss to Howe Sound secondary in Squamish, a game they played with only 12 players because seven starters couldn't make the trip. With the full lineup back intact for the North Shore final the Spartans took out Sutherland 2-1, claiming the title of best team on the North Shore despite playing in the smaller-school AA league.
The team is led by a pair of outstanding goaltenders, Ryan Ritson and Hudson Nelles, who alternate starts and have posted shutouts in half of the team's games. Brendan Timm leads the team on offence, scoring in nearly every game this season. The team, however, has no superstar, said Inman, adding that he leans heavily on his starting lineup.
"This team here, even though we don't have three or four super soccer players, is just well rounded," he said. "These boys have a tremendous amount of skill, they move the ball around very well."
Having a team laden with Grade 12s makes coaching pretty easy as well.
"They like each other, they don't argue with each other on the field, they're calm and collected," said Inman. "In the end that's the reason we were winning these 1-0 games."
• • •
The Spartans have pool games Monday at 9 a.m., 12:45 p.m. and Tuesday at 11 a.m. with the semifinals to follow Tuesday afternoon. St. Thomas Aquinas is also in the tournament after winning three straight do-or-die playoff games, including a 3-2 overtime win against Cariboo Hill Nov. 7. The provincial championship final will be played Wednesday at 11:45 a.m. at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex West.
