NLL Insider

With the Minto Cup only a few days away from droppin’ down in Calgary, NLL Insider is settin’ ya up with a Minto Cup Preview, lookin’ at the four teams vying for the holy grail of junior ball in Canada.

We’ll also quickly rhyme off the second to last edition of the National Junior A Ranking, giving you a pretty good idea of who we peg as the fave during 2008’s finale. Hint? It’s the Orangeville Northmen.

Anyways, after the jump, check-out our top ten rundown of the best teams in the nation and then right after that, it’s your Minto primer…

National Junior A Ranking   Week 13 

The Orangeville Northmen, for the eighth straight week, hold onto the top spot, but have a hungry Victoria Shamrocks breathing right down their necks after their stunning come-from-behind win over the Burnaby Lakers…

1. (1) Orangeville Northmen (OLA) 31-6-0 overall 2008 record
2. (3) Victoria Shamrocks (BCJALL) 22-7-0
3. (4) Six Nations Arrows (OLA) 25-15-0
4. (2) Burnaby Lakers (BCJALL) 20-13-0
5. (5) St. Catharines Athletics (OLA) 22-10-2
6. (6) Coquitlam Adanacs (BCJALL) 17-7-0
7. (7) New Westminster Salmonbellies (BCJALL) 18-10-0
8. (8) Akwesasne Indians (OLA) 19-13-1
9. (9) Edmonton Miners (RMLL) 15-6-4
10. (10) Edmonton Eclipse (RMLL) 18-5-3

After the Minto is put to bed, we’ll publish our final National Junior A Ranking for 2008.

Orangeville Northmen

Regular Season Record: 19-3-0
Post Season Record: 12-3
Regular Season Leading Scorer: Matt McLeod (37G, 30A, 67PTS)
Post Season Leading Scorer: Adam Jones (29G, 29A, 59PTS)
Money Ballers Regular Season Leader: Matt McLeod (18.0PTS)
Money Ballers Post Season Leader: Adam Jones (32.5PTS)

Shakedown: The Northmen have easily owned the most dominating and deep roster in the nation this summer. They were deep before the trade deadline deals that brought both Stephen Keogh and Todd Hosmer into their camp, and even though Hosmer has been on the shelf with a foot injury, the two Beaches snipers make this already loaded lineup even deadlier. Keogh’s provided one man wrecking crew status more than once during this year’s playoffs and as Johns Hopkins found out a couple months back, the kid can really gut ya with just a flip of a switch. And like we’ve mentioned before, although they have top shelf guys like Matt McLeod and Adam Jones to go along with the Toronto pickups, their O is just so consistent and has a cast that has shown both during the regular season and the playoffs that they’re more than capable of stepping up and having a monster night of their own. And then with guys like Jon Harnett, Greg Harnett, Andrew Suitor and captain Glen Bryan patrolling the floor in front of keeper of the year candidate Nick Rose, you’ve gotta wonder how anyone is gonna be able to beat ‘em. Guess the only really question mark is… did they peak too early while they ran through most of Ontario?

Victoria Shamrocks

Regular Season Record: 16-5-0
Post Season Record: 6-2
Regular Season Leading Scorer: Cayle Ratcliff (34G, 34A, 68PTS)
Post Season Leading Scorer: Cory Conway (10G, 17A, 27PTS)
Money Ballers Regular Season Leader: Cayle Ratcliff (22.5PTS)
Money Ballers Post Season Leader: Cayle Ratcliff (13.0PTS)

Shakedown: Back in May, few would have picked the Shamrocks to get past the likes of Coquitlam or New West, but after showing BC that their young D and keeper Matt Flindell were more than enough to hold back the best O the province could throw at ‘em, which included a couple beauty D showings against Burnaby in the BCJALL final, if you still don’t think the boys in green are for real, they’ll blow by you like they have everyone else that’s gotten in their way. And like Orangeville’s O, even though Victoria sports high pro names like Cayle Ratcliff, Mike Pires and Nller Cory Conway, the thing that makes them dangerous is that they have a whole host of secondary scorers that have produced from start-to-finish. Look-out for underrated forward Joel Henry, who not only more than pulled his weight around during the summer, but might just end up landing a spot in the bigs later next month too. Kory Kowalyk is a legit force on O too and has some of the sweetest hands for a kid his size. There should be some fierce battles with Kory and the Northmen’s smash mouth D lookin’ for space in front of Rose. And also like the Northmen, an off the charts chemistry has followed this group of kids throughout the season as well, something that showed large in the playoffs when their backs were up against the wall against the Lakers. It looks like an even tighter group of ballers than that last Shamrocks team that played in the Minto four years ago. Do they have the legs to go stride-for-stride with the mighty horn-heads?

Edmonton Miners

Regular Season Record: 8-5-4
Post Season Record: 7-1
Regular Season Leading Scorer: Nate Schmidt (26G, 19A, 45PTS)
Post Season Leading Scorer: Nate Schmidt (13G, 16A, 27PTS)
Money Ballers Regular Season Leader: N/A
Money Ballers Post Season Leader: Nate Schmidt (11.0PTS)

Shakedown: The Miners did what the Burnaby Lakers and Six Nations Arrows couldn’t, tap into those Minto roots and ride their way back to the national championship (although those two other teams did one helluva job this year and almost pulled it off with everyone doubting them). The Miners will be led by offensive scoring threat, Nat Schmidt, who’ll be making his third consecutive Minto appearance. He’ll need more than the three goals he scored over the Miners’ three games last Minto Cup though, but based on what he’s thrown down this year, he looks primed to make his biggest impact on the national level yet. Cam Ritchie should be a decent threat blastin’ outta his own end on the press and it’s his brand of ball that might be what helps break either Orangeville or Victoria if things are close. Ritchie’s style of ball is so tough to keep a leash on and if he can get to teams early, ya never know what can happen. The Miners will definitely need some consistent secondary scoring from guys like Kevin Wallin and even Calvin College attacker, Lucas Huyser-Wierenga, who’s exploded onto the playoff scoring charts with some big goals against the Eclipse, including a hat-trick in Game 3 of that all-Edmonton close-out. Defensively look for team cap and leader Mike Lutes to get paired up with the likes of Jones, McLeod and Ratcliff during the entire tourney. And then between the pipes, the Miners will have a pretty clutch Dave Marrese, who was just voted by the league’s coaches as the top tender in NLL Insider’s Alberta coaches poll. Marrese allowed a max of four goals in a single showing during the Eclipse series, which included a stellar 7-2 win to clinch that series. He’s playin’ maybe his best ball of the year, which couldn’t come at a better time for the Miners.

Calgary Mountaineers

Regular Season Record: 4-10-3
Post Season Record: 0-3
Regular Season Leading Scorer: Kiel Donahue (29G, 13A, 42PTS)
Post Season Leading Scorer: Tyler Melnyk (6G, 0A, 6PTS)
Money Ballers Regular Season Leader: N/A
Money Ballers Post Season Leader: Tyler Melnyk (2.5PTS)

Shakedown: Not to be rude, but the scores that involve the host Mounties could get ugly. Like we’re talkin’ nasty, mutilated, run over by an eighteen wheeler hauling some sorta rotting carcasses ugly. Calgary barely strung together four wins this summer, getting swept aside by the Miners in the Alberta semi-finals, opening that series with a devastating 11-0 loss. Their likely three straight losses at the Minto will no doubt have the critics saying, “This is why this new Minto format sucks!” You’d have to think an attainable goal would be aiming for a W when they dance with the Miners on the 24th, who they actually played super close throughout the regular season (1-2-1 regular season record versus Miners in 2008). The positives? Calgary sports one of the best kids in the province in Kelowna BC’s Kiel Donahue, who is a stud at either end of the floor, leading the province in goals with 29. Donahue was one of just two players this year to even crack the 20 goal barrier in the RMLL Junior A loop, the other being the Miners’ Schmidt (26). You’ll also get to see one of the best defenders in the Alberta game in pint-sized (5′8″) pure D leader Tyler Pridham, who’ll definitely have his work cut out for him but should give even Orangeville’s top studs some headaches on O. The one thing the Mounties do have is a super athletic brand of ball, led by work horse Brandon Miller, that might catch a team or two off guard. It’ll also be interesting to see how Nanaimo T-Men late season pickup, keeper Drew Dickie will perform under heavy pressure, somethings he’s actually pretty used to, but how will he react on the biggest stage in the game? NLL fans that check-out the Minto will likely recognize Calgary Head Coach John Kilbride, one of the provinces most respected lacrosse figures.

Minto Cup Schedule

Friday, Aug. 22nd: Victoria Shamrocks vs. Calgary Mountaineers
Saturday, Aug. 23rd: Orangeville Northmen vs. Edmonton Miners
Sunday, Aug. 24th: Edmonton Miners vs. Calgary Mountaineers
Monday, Aug. 25th: Victoria Shamrocks vs. Orangeville Northmen
Tuesday, Aug. 26th: Edmonton Miners vs. Victoria Shamrocks
Wednesday, Aug. 27th: Orangeville Northmen vs. Calgary Mountaineers
Thursday, Aug. 28th: Third Place vs. Second Place
Saturday, Aug. 30th: Semi Winner vs. First Place

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