The Prince Albert Predators must win Games 2 and 3 on Sunday in order to punch their ticket to Nationals. (Lucas Wells/submitted)

By Logan Lehmann

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The most important game in Prince Albert lacrosse history is set to go down this weekend.

The Prince Albert Predators are gearing up to head down to Regina on Sunday as they continue to fight for a spot at the Founders Cup National Championship later this summer.

Game one of the best of three series saw the Queen City Kings prevail in Prince Albert’s Kinsmen Arena, winning 11-10 in overtime to take a 1-0 series lead.

According to Predators Head Coach Lucas Wells, the team let the nerves get to them in Game 1 but feels that heading into Game 2, the tables are turned.

“[Queen City] was exactly what we thought they were going to be,” he said. “I felt that as nice as it is playing in front of a home crowd with five, six hundred people, the pressure kind of got to us a little bit. We were attacking on offense more than we were thinking, we were moving without the ball, the ball wasn’t catching up to us, just little things that we don’t normally do.”

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“We may be down one game in a best of three series, but I don’t feel like the pressure is on us. We feel that the pressure is on Queen City to close us out, and quite frankly to blow us out.”

The Predators wrapped up their regular season in the Prairie Gold Lacrosse League (PGLL) two weeks ago and have been on a bye week since. P.A. finished the season atop the standings with a perfect 12-0 record, while the Kings sit tied for second in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL) with a 12-4 record, and five games left in the regular season.

Having more than enough time to prepare for Game 2, Wells said the bye week was what the team needed to get battle ready.

“The bye week for us was fantastic,” he said. “We had guys battling injuries and we were able to get healthy. Game 1, we weren’t necessarily healthy at all, so I think that’s also going to play another factor in in Game 2.”

He added that after watching film from Game 1 and previous Queen City games from over the past three years, the coaching staff decided to mix things up a bit.

“We’ve kind of changed up a few things. We’ve got a couple matchups we like, couple things on O, couple things on D and on special teams – just things that we feel we can exploit.”

With a ticket to the Founders Cup on the line and a chance to make history within their reach, Wells said the expectation for the weekend is simple.

“Win. That is the expectation, that was the expectation set back in January, it was the expectation of training camp and it’s been the expectation the entire way through that we were going to represent Saskatchewan at Nationals and whether that happens or not, that’s to be determined.”

Game 2 of the best-of-three Founders Cup play-in series is set for 1:00 p.m. in Regina. Game three is scheduled for later that same day at 7:00 p.m., if necessary. The games will also be live streamed on the team’s Facebook page.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com