IL Indoor

B.C. Junior A, Coquitlam Adanacs, Langley Thunder, Ontario Junior A, Ontario Junior B, Road to the Founders, Road to the Mann Cup, Road to the Minto Cup, Senior A, WLA

Last night: Thunder prevail in defensive struggle with Adanacs

Brodie MacDonald stopped 27 of the 30 shots he faced in Langley's win.

If you want to win a championship, you need to be able to win games in various ways. Wednesday night, the two-time defending Western Lacrosse Association champion Langley Thunder showed that they can win a defensive battle, shutting out the Coquitlam Adanacs for the final 27:52 to prevail 5-3 at the Langley Events Centre.

Coquitlam scored the only 2 goals of the first period, both coming off the stick of Jesse Guerin. Athan Iannucci and Alex Turner sandwiched second period Langley power play goals around a marker by Matthew Dinsdale to pull the Thunder within one at 3-2 after 40 minutes. Dinsdale would be the last Adanac to be able to beat Brodie MacDonald in the Thunder net. Adam Shute wasn’t giving up much at the other end of the floor, either. But Iannucci connected at 8:01 and Matt Leveque notched the game winner just 59 seconds later. Kyle Belton rounded out the quiet scoring night with just under five minutes to play to ensure the Thunder stayed perfect on the young season, running their record to 2-0. Coquitlam falls to 0-2. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, Ontario Junior A, Road to the Minto Cup

OLA Jr A Power Rankings: From Arrows to Tomahawks

Randy Staats helps make the Six Nations Arrows a formidable foe. (Photo: Ward Laforme, Jr.)

With all the top-calibre players graduating from OLA Jr A’s two Minto Cup teams from last year, we knew there’d be a lot of change when this summer’s season kicked off. Still, knowing it’ll happen and seeing things like Barrie and Burlington being a combined 5-0 while the Whitby Warriors are 0-2 are completely different. It still feels just a little weird even to write 0-2 beside Whitby after they’ve been such a strong team over the last several seasons. Of course, no one lost more players than the baker’s dozen that graduated from the Orangeville Northmen, but the Hornheads still managed to pulverize the Mississauga Tomahawks 21-2. Some things don’t change. Then again, Orangeville also lost to a Barrie Lakeshores team that has roared out of the gates with a 4-0 start. READ MORE »

B.C. Junior A, Ontario Junior A, Ontario Junior B, Road to the Founders, Road to the Minto Cup

Last night: Toronto Beaches showing signs of progress

It’s not easy to turn a program around and it doesn’t happen overnight. Along the way, you need to take a lot of little steps. Steps like the Toronto Beaches took Tuesday night when they hung with the Peterborough Lakers till well into the third period of their 16-11 Ontario Lacrosse Association Junior A loss. One of the biggest of the little steps came in the way the team responded to a pair of Lakers goals in the final minute of the first period that erased a surprising 6-4 Beaches lead and sent the teams into the intermission tied.

The first came on a top-corner bullet from way outside by Cam Milligan. The second was a real dagger. Turner Evans‘ shot from right wing missed the net, bounced off the back boards and ricocheted right into the stick of Nate White, who dove across the crease and flicked the ball into the net with 0.7 seconds to play. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, Ontario Junior A

Orangeville Sports Hall of Fame welcomes Codd, Coyle and Keegan to exclusive club

Bruce Codd

Bruce Codd, Butch Keegan and Pat Coyle will forever be brothers in the Orangeville Northmen tradition. But today, that bond goes deeper as they all recently celebrated their inductions into the Orangeville Sports Hall of Fame. “In my many years of travelling around different arenas in Ontario, I was always drawn to the hall of fames … to have this in Orangeville now and be a member is an extreme honour for me,” Codd told Orangeville.com. Codd and Coyle both were defenders and both are decorated with championships. Codd won 3 Minto Cups, 2 Mann Cups, 1 Presidents Cup and 1 NLL title, while Coyle won 4 NLL titles with Toronto and 1 with Colorado. Keegan, meanwile, enjoyed a senior and professional career that saw him rack up 765 points. He won a Mann Cup in 1965 and was a member of Team Canada in 1967.

IL Indoor, Ontario Junior A, Ontario Junior B, WLA

Last Night: Langley opens defense of WLA title with win; Barrie tops Orangeville in OT

Joel McCready, left, led the way for Langley in last night's win with 4 goals and 3 assists. (Photo: Dan Brodie)

The Langley Thunder found out what life without Lewis Ratcliff would be like. And the Maple Ridge Burrards welcomed back life with Curtis Dickson. And waaaaay over in Ontario, the Junior A Barrie Lakeshores are celebrating an early-season, but all the same exciting, victory over the Orangeville Northmen. It gives Barrie a 3-0 record this season, matching its win total already from all of 2012. That’s the kind of action fans were treated to on Sunday and to think, the season of summer lacrosse is just getting started. Ratcliff, of course, is out for 2 seasons as he serves a suspension, and Dickson, of course, is back on the floor after missing most of last season with injury. READ MORE »

Burnaby Lakers, Coquitlam Adanacs, Nanaimo Timbermen, Ontario Junior A, Ontario Junior B, Road to the Founders, Road to the Mann Cup, Road to the Minto Cup, Senior A, Victoria Shamrocks, WLA

Last night: Shamrocks and Timbermen win Western Lacrosse Association openers

Defender Ben McCullough was named third star of Victoria's season-opening WLA win.

The Victoria Shamrocks have been loading up for a run at the Mann Cup this year. The early returns are positive—in the form of a 10-6 season-opening win over Coquitlam in which they outshot the Adanacs 63-39. The Shamrocks ran out to a 4-0 lead after the first period and only high save percentages by Nick Rose (.833 in the first period) and Adam Shute (.846 the rest of the way) kept the margin of victory from being bigger.

Scott Ranger scored a hat trick and Cory Conway assisted on 7 of the Shamrocks’ 10 goals. Corey Small scored once and added 4 assists to help Victoria’s cause. Shamrocks’ goalie Matt Flindell posted the exact same numbers as Shute did—33 saves on 39 shots—to earn the win.

Coquitlam’s scoring was spread around with six different players scoring goals. Eastern import Jesse Guerin was their points leader with a goal and 2 assists in his WLA debut. Guerin finished second in Major Series Lacrosse last year with 22 goals and 37 assists for 59 points in 14 games. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, Ontario Junior A, Ontario Junior B

Last Night: Orangeville opens defense of Minto Cup with win at Kitchener-Waterloo

Rob Hellyer (18) had a goal and an assist in OT as part of his 5-point game for Orangeville. (Photo: Ward Laforme Jr.)

There were plenty of firsts last night for the Orangeville Northmen, and that’s to be expected in a season opener. Jordan Dance scored his and the game’s first goal. Ian Mackay also scored his first and the Northmen got their first win by a 12-9 count in overtime against the Kitchener-Waterloo at Kinsmen Arena. But there was another “first” of note in last night’s game, and it belonged to Mackay. And just to be clear, this is not an indictment on Mackay, but it’s interesting to see in the box score of last night’s game an “Obscene Language” minor next to his name. It’s part of the OLA’s crackdown on language during games and Mackay just happened to be the first called for it, at least in last night’s game. K-W’s Jake McLay was whistled for the same violation at the same time and if the referees are to continue enforcing this rule, we’re sure this won’t be the only case. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, MSL, Ontario Junior A

OLA Jr A cracking down on swearing during its games

The Ontario Lacrosse Association’s Jr A league intends to make attending their games a more family-friendly experience by cracking down on enforcement of the language that players and coaches use in games. Observant fans noted that there were four minor penalties handed out for obscene language in the first game of the OLA Jr A season, a 9-7 win by the Peterborough Lakers over the Kitchener-Waterloo Braves.

Jr A league Commissioner Dean McLeod says language was addressed as a point of emphasis with referees before the season in Jr A. “It’s a directive from the league to the teams and the referees, but the request comes from the general managers,” McLeod told IL Indoor. He said that the teams want to clean up the language used by players and coaches that can be offensive to fans. READ MORE »

IL Indoor, Ontario Junior A, Ontario Junior B, Road to the Founders, Road to the Minto Cup, Road to the Presidents Cup, Senior B

Last night: James Gang continue perfect run to start the season

The Norwood James Gang are out to prove that the Ontario Senior B lacrosse league isn’t a one-team race, and so far they’re doing a pretty good job of it. The St. Catharines Saints are getting lots of attention for the additions they’ve made to the team that already won the last two league titles and earned medals at the last two Presidents Cups. But Norwood has made some additions as well, and they’ve come out to a 4-0 start with last night’s dominating 15-6 win over the Brooklin Merchants, who knocked them out in the first round of playoffs last year.

“We play every year to win. We put out the best effort and we want a championship,” James Gang forward Matt Evans told IL Indoor after the game. “Every year we have a shot, this year I think we have a great chance at it. We’ve got a couple new additions and some real good guys coming off long layoffs.” READ MORE »

Alberta Junior A, B.C. Junior A, CLA, IL Indoor, Inside Lacrosse, Ontario Junior A, Road to the Minto Cup, The Buzz

Queens Park Arena to host 2013 Minto Cup

Get ready B.C. lacrosse fans, high-energy, high-skilled, intense lacrosse action is coming your way this August as the Minto Cup is returning to British Columbia for the 2013 Minto Cup championship. Hosted by the British Columbia Lacrosse Association (BCLA) and the BC Junior ‘A’ Lacrosse League (BCJALL), the Canadian Lacrosse Association’s (CLA) Canadian Junior ‘A’ National Championship will operate in its current four-team format. The championship will start with round-robin play on Saturday August 17 at Queens Park Arena in New Westminster, B.C. After four days of round-robin play, the championship round will begin Thursday August 22 with the final two teams competing for the coveted title in a best-of-five playoff series. READ MORE »