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We’re four weeks into this thing and already onto our third number one ranked team.

This week? It’s gotta be the Coquitlam Adanacs.

For all the “faults” that their detractors bring up about their game, the Adanacs just keep winning, throwing up a pretty dominating third period to pinch off the Lakers last night.

With Six Nations still not too far off the Orangeville loss, plus barely edging out Akwesasne at home yesterday, and then Orangeville dropping their first to Brampton of all teams yesterday, Coquitlam gets the nod as this week’s top club, riding a pretty impressive five game win streak.

Anyways, the rest of this week’s top ten will be on your ol’ computer screen right after the jump…

(1) Coquitlam Adanacs (BCJALL)   12-2-0
Last Week: 2
Past Week: 7-6 win over Delta, 8-5 win over Burnaby

Well, they maya almost let one slip away against Delta, but bottom line, they still found a way to win and road that play into the weekend, where they pulled up their socks in the third against Burnaby and showed the Lakers they are indeed for real. The big difference for Coquitlam since the start of the year? Has to be their offense. Their O is smoother, more spread out and definitely more consistent then we saw from them back in May. This team may be built from the back out, but with their offense clicking and moving that ball a lot better, we’re finally seeing these guys at close to 100%. They were a lot of people’s fave heading into the year, can they hold onto the top spot the rest of the way?

(2) Orangeville Northmen (OLA)   11-1-0
Last Week: 1
Past Week: 7-5 win over Burlington, 10-8 win over Toronto, 7-5 loss against Brampton

The rough stuff got the better of both teams last night at Tony Rose, and the Excels made sure they finished on the man-up when they had the chance, scoring both their game tying and game winning goal on the power-play. Although the Northmen had a huge win over Burlington earlier in the week, just can’t keep them number one after last night’s loss, which had it not been for Deron Dempster’s (Salisbury School) slick finishing, things could have been gassed earlier than they were. They’ve got a full slate of games again this week, and although they won’t want to look past either Toronto or Orillia mid-week, Sunday afternoon’s clash with Akwesasne not only means a ton in the standings, it should be a beauty of a game too.

(3) Six Nations Arrows (OLA)   11-1-0
Last Week: 3
Past Week: 9-4 win over Peterborough, 9-8 win over Akwesasne

After droppin’ Peterborough pretty easily in mid-week, the Arrows let inconsistency slip into their game again when they almost let an 8-3 lead against Akwesasne slip through their fingers. It was also one of the few games this year that the high powered Arrows got out-shot (45-42), getting wrecked in the third by an 18-9 margin, not coincidentally getting outscored 5-1 either. It was also only the second time all year that Cody Jamieson was held scoreless, the other a 9-2 win over Orillia at the start of the month. With virtually a week off until their next one, a date against the Beach at Ted Reeve, the Arrows will then be running into a seven day span where they’ll dance four times, one being a much anticipated re-match against the Orangeville Northmen.

(4) Victoria Shamrocks (BCJALL)   12-3-0
Last Week: 4
Past Week: 10-7 win over New West, 16-6 win over South Fraser

If this was simply a Power Ranking, the Shamrocks might be leading the rundown today, cuz outside of their one goal loss to Coquitlam, these guys have been lights out in June. Like a lotta the top dawgs this week, the Shamrocks too almost let a game get away from them, allowing New West to finish four times in the third and force their tilt to OT. That was until Mr. Hat Trick Every Game, aka Mike Pires, netted his, you guessed it, third goal of the game a buck 25 into OT, and iced the W for the ‘Rocks. Right now if anyone is gonna knock Coquitlam off the top of the heap, you’d have to think the Shamrocks have the best chance, especially with their O coming together as nicely as it has since Pires and Cory Conway were added to the mix. Can their fairly young D hold up in the dog days of the summer, with an all-important rematch against Coquitlam at the end of the month?

(5) New Westminster Salmonbellies (BCJALL)   11-5-0
Last Week: 5
Past Week: 11-4 win over South Fraser, 10-7 loss to Victoria

They really needed that one against Victoria. How big was that loss the rest of the way for New West? Did it rock their confidence? They were running with a real nice string of momentum since the Nanaimo loss last month and looked primed to crack the top of the standings. And like we’ve mentioned before, the schedule maker didn’t do the Bellies any favors, closing out the year with two against first place Coquitlam and singles against Victoria and Burnaby. Three of those games New West will be without Kevin Crowley, who’ll be suitin’ up for Canada at the U19’s. Will any of that affect ‘em? Like we mentioned during the NLL season, late season runs just prior to the playoffs are usually pretty huge when looking at post-season success. The Bellies will have to find a way to beat the top dawgs down now, cuz gut check time started… yesterday.

(6) St. Catharines Athletics (OLA)   6-4-1
Last Week: 6
Past Week: 8-8 tie with Brampton

What is with teams not showing up in the third this week? Like almost everyone above them on the list in week 4, the Athletics managed to stumble off the bench in the final 20 minutes, totally making a mess of a 7-3 lead over the Excels and barely holding onto an 8-8 tie. Like Orangeville did against Brampton, St. Kitts too seemed to always have someone in the box in the third, allowing the Excels to bury three man-up markers as they pulled off the tie. With that said, decent games from Joey Resetarits and Andrew Potter, who continue to make everyone forget that it was the A’s O that most felt would hold them back this year. With high profile matches against Burlington and Peterborough on the docket, it will be interesting to see how the A’s respond leading up to those games when they see Orillia and Missisauga this coming week, two teams that currently are outside of the top eight in the province.

(7) Akwesasne Indians (OLA)   8-3-1
Last Week: 8
Past Week: 7-3 win over Burlington, 9-8 loss to Six Nations

Not a bad week for the Indians, not too shabby at all. First they dumped a pretty impressive Burlington side, only to spark a third period comeback the next night in Hagersville that almost had them stunning the Arrows. Outside of a double W, the week couldn’t have gone much better for Akwesasne. And even though Kyle Buchanan, Jeremy Thompson and Jerome Thompson are the ones grabbing the O headlines, gotta say, super impressed with the play of the two younger Thompson bros, Miles and Lyles, who’ll be suiting up for the Iroquois at the U19’s next month. Remember their names, cuz I guarantee you everyone will be droolin’ all over ‘em in Coqtuilam. The Indians should have their hands full on Tuesday night when the unpredictable Lakers roll into town, before being handed another one of the top teams in the province, Orangeville, on Sunday.

(8) Burnaby Lakers (BCJALL)   9-6-0
Last Week: 7
Past Week: 10-2 win over PoCo, 8-5 loss to Coquitlam

Man, even though they split this past week, Burnaby’s D looked as good as it has all year coming outta their games against the Saints and Adanacs. Many felt that Tom Wray and a slightly weakened D might be the team’s downfall this year, but after holding PoCo to just two and then going stride-for-stride with Coquitlam for the better part of three periods, the boys in the Lakers’ own end have nothing to be ashamed of. Their O however appear to be getting in ruts where they just can’t seem to finish consistently. It was never more evident then the Victoria loss and then seemed to bother them for stretches against Coquitlam as well. Alex Gajic trading off a ten minute game misconduct with the Adanac’s Matt Wilson certainly didn’t help either. The loss to Coquitlam definately looks like it puts Burnaby on the outside of a regular season crown, more likely battling it out with New West for the three spot. Will they have enough juice left in the post-season to keep their Minto appearance streak alive?

(9) Edmonton Eclipse (RMLL)   6-0-0
Last Week: 9
Past Week: 8-5 win over Calgary Jr. Mounties

Been getting a bit of grief from some Ontario and BC old timers for having the Eclipse in here since the start, but with yet another win over the weekend and a squeaky clean 6-0 record, Edmonton’s playing the most consistent ball of any team in Canada right now. Will they win the Minto? Well, with the results we’ve seen in recent Minto’s, the odds are definitely against ‘em, but with consistency being an issue with many teams in Ontario and BC right now, the Eclipse just keep adding W’s and more importantly confidence as the rest of the country doubts them. The Eclipse host the Sr. B Mounties this weekend as they look to keep that zero in column two intact.

And on a side note, make sure to have www.abjralacrosse.com dialed in as the new RMLL Jr. A site looks to launch later this week.

(10) Peterborough Lakers (OLA)   7-5-2
Last Week: unranked
Past Week: 9-4 loss to Six Nations, 10-8 win over Mississauga, 12-6 win over Toronto

This 10 spot has gotta be the toughest position to hand out each week. Seems like every week someone sneaks on, and then just don’t have the results to carry them into the next. Although Brampton’s recent play has been impressive as hell, their record is just too rough to land a spot this week. Burlington had two really tough games this past week and due to going 0-2, find themselves outside of the top 10 too. So even though they got drubbed pretty good against KW a couple weeks ago and look uninspired against Six Nations, the Lakers sneak their way back into the National Junior A Ranking, beating both bottom-feeders Mississauga and Toronto easily after the Arrows loss. The Lakers definitely have the players to do well, but the results just haven’t really been there over the long haul. Factor in that they’ll be without the likes of Brock Sorenson and Kyle Clancy for their last three games of the year (St. Catharines, Orangeville and Six Nations) plus potentially some early post-season fixtures due to the U19’s. How will this team look heading into the post-season?

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