Playoff-bound Shadow have shot at retaining division title

It’s all on the line this weekend for the Spokane Shadow.

Well, sort of.

When the Cascade Surge (10-3-1, 31 points) visit Joe Albi Stadium tonight at 7 p.m., the Shadow (9-4-1, 28 points) will have the chance to move back into first place in the Premier Development League’s Northwest Division.

What won’t be at stake is a place in the PDL’s playoffs. Spokane wrapped that up long ago.

And that takes a bit of the pressure off.

“I think going in we know we’re both in the playoffs,” Shadow head coach Stuart Saunders said. “We would like to win the division up here, but anyway you look at it, we’re going to have to play whoever we have to play, so we’re preparing ourselves now to make a run at the playoffs and see how we do there.”

That doesn’t mean the Shadow aren’t interested in defending their division title, they just know it won’t be easy against a Surge team that has beaten them three straight times, including twice in Spokane, and scored 12 goals in the process.

“Obviously, we’re going to have to work defensively this week, shore up how we play,” said Saunders. “We have to get better in front of goal. They have some dominating players up front. We just need to do better as a team defensively.”

Against a team that has really proved to be Spokane’s nemesis this season, Saunders hesitates to say the Shadow are looking for some payback.

“It’s not really revenge,” Saunders said. “We want to do well, beat teams up here. We’ve struggled against them this year, but really we always just want to do well at home.”

The Shadow were off last weekend and Saunders gave the team the week off from practice. It’s a break that had been planned from the beginning of the season, but it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The Shadow had lost three of four, including a humbling 5-1 loss at Cascade July 2, before beating the Abbotsford Rangers 1-0 on July 4. Due to injuries and player commitments, the Shadow traveled with just one healthy sub against the Surge and had no subs listed on the official match report against the Rangers.

“It was a rough weekend,” Saunders said. “We were short players again and didn’t play well on Friday night (against the Surge). Then were able to bounce back on Sunday and put in good performance to get away with a win.

“Hopefully, the week off will allow us to rest up, heal injuries and have a few more guys available. We want to give them (the Surge) game this weekend, come out with a win and carry on from there.”