Will it be the 91Ô­´´ Thunder winning a second consecutive Western Lacrosse Association championship or will there be a new champion as the New Westminster Salmonbellies attempt to capture their first league title since 2017?

That will be determined over the course of the next two weeks as the teams embark on the WLA Finals, a best-of-seven championship series.

It all begins tonight, August 16, at New Westminster’s Queen’s Park Arena as the Salmonbellies hold home-floor advantage thanks to their 15-3 regular season record, two points ahead of the second-place Thunder who finished with a 14-4 mark.

The series shifts to 91Ô­´´ Events Centre on Friday, August 18 with game 3 back at Queen’s Park Arena on August 20. Game 4 is set for LEC on August 22. All four games have 7:30 p.m. start times.

But of New Westminster’s three losses, two came at the hands of the Thunder with 91Ô­´´ winning the season series 2-1.

The Salmonbellies defeated the Victoria Shamrocks 3-0 in the best-of-five semi-final series while 91Ô­´´ needed four games to eliminate the Nanaimo Timbermen 3-1.

READ ALSO: 91Ô­´´ Thunder bound for WLA finals

The Thunder were led by captain Connor Robinson, who scored six, five, five and three goals, respectively, in his team’s four games, finishing the series with 19 goals and 25 points. He finished the series with a .442 shooting percentage and his 6.3 points per game placed him second.

Secondary scoring for 91Ô­´´ came courtesy of Curtis Dickson and Robert Church, with each scoring nine goals. Dickson also dished out 14 assists and Church finished with a dozen. Dane Dobbie – who missed the opener – finished with one goal and 12 assists. Dobbie did lead the team in the regular season with 34 goals.

In goal, Frank Scigliano carried over his dominant play from the regular season where he was named the WLA’s Top Goalie as he led the league with 6.59 goals against average and an .858 save percentage while posting a league-best 12-1 record. He was also tops among goalies with five assists and second in total saves with 497.

In his team’s four playoff games, Scigliano’s GAA sits at 7.07 while his save percentage is at .872.

At the other end of the floor, Zach Higgins was in goal for all three New Westminster games, finishing with a 9.68 GAA and .804 save percentage.

READ ALSO: 91Ô­´´ goaltender continues to be showered with accolades

The teams finished one-two in the regular season for both goals scored and against with the Thunder the league’s stingiest team, allowing 7.94 goals against while the Salmonbellies were tops at 11.44 and 91Ô­´´ was second at 10.72.

But in the post-season so far, the Thunder are tops in both categories with 11.75 goals scored versus 7.20 allowed. New Westminster averaged 11.33 goals while allowing 9.67.

Both teams ranked third and fourth, respectively, in both power play and penalty kill percentage.