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The past week has been another exciting one for Canadians playing south of the border. While many of our players have had very productive weeks, players such as Keogh, Genik, Card, Delgarno, Pires, Jones, Benesch and Cook (T.J.) have stood out. Our players have collectively scored 1,530 goals so far this season. Here is my recap of the week’s events in no particular order. See attached spreadsheet for the stats supporting the commentary below.

A good week for Hartford!

Hartford was involved in a couple of huge games last week with Aiden Genik (Beaches), Michael Cudmore (Ashburn) and Carter Bender (Caledon) all figuring in the mix. Hartford beat Presbyterian, 14-5, early in the week with Genik scoring 3 goals and adding 4 assists; Bender picked up 4 goals in the same game.

A few days later, Hartford achieved a major upset with a 10-8 win over then No. 8-ranked UMBC. In the UMBC game, Genik had 2 goals and an assist, Cudmore had 2 goals and Bender added a goal and an assist.

Greer continues to lead the pack

Bryant’s Zach Greer (Whitby) had another statistically big week and continues to lead all Canadians in Div I in scoring with 41 goals and 65 points. Last week, Greer had 4 goals and 3 assists in a win over Bellarmine.

Hofstra’s Jay Card (Caledon) also had a good outing this past week in front of a big crowd on Long Island. Card had 4 goals in a loss to North Carolina.

The boys from Ohio State were out west this past weekend and evidently it snowed in Denver. Fortunately this did not deter Joel Dalgarno (Port Coquitlam) who had a goal and 4 assists against Denver and 2 goals against Air Force.

Mike Pires (Saanichton) had 3 goals and 2 assists in the Denver game. Canisius’ Adam Jones (Owen Sound) also had good luck around the net last week. Jones scored a pair of goals in a loss to Siena –- and Bryan Neufeld (Virgil) scored 3 goals and assist in the same game for Siena. Later that week Jones had 3 goals and 2 assists in an OT win over Manhattan.

Syracuse’s Stephen Keogh (Beaches) also had a big week. He scored 3 goals and added 2 assists in Syracuse’s 15-13 win over Albany. Corey Small (St Catherines) scored 4 goals for Albany in the same game. Of course, it wouldn’t be a week of NCAA lacrosse without someone from Canada scoring for Stony Brook. On Saturday, Stony Brook beat Binghamton with Jordan McBride (New Westminster), Kyle Belton (Langley) and Kevin Crowley (New Westminster) each garnering hat tricks and Robbie Campbell (Delta) adding two goals.

Div II Conference Championships Feature Several Canucks

Last week’s Div II lacrosse action featured several conference championships. In the Conference Carolina’s championships, Limestone beat Queens, 12-10. Stephen Leblanc (Restoule) scored 4 goals in a losing effort for Queens. Mars Hill made it to the final of the Deep South Conference and lost, 15-12, to Saint Leo. Jason Farmer (Calgary) had 3 goals and an assist in the loss and T.J. Cowx (Delta) added a pair of goals. Earlier in the tournament, Catawba lost to Mars Hill and Braden Artem (Acton) had a pair for Catawba while Eric Benesch (Bloomingdale) scored 4 for Mars Hill.

T.J. Cook Scores 9 Goals For Adrian!

In Div III, No. 1 Roanoke hammered Virginia Wesleyan, 27-8, and Matt Quinton (Elora) had a hat trick. Quinton also had a pair of goals earlier in the week in a win over Washington & Lee.

It was also a big week for the Canadian’s at Adrian University. Adrian defeated Carthage quite handily and T.J. Cook (Caledon) scored 9 goals and added an assist. Jeff Ivey (Orangeville) also had hat trick in the game while DJ Clevely (Orangeville) and Eric Hubert (Mississauga) each added a pair of goals and assists.

A Quiet Week for Games Nearby

Not much NCAA lacrosse going on close to the Canada/US border this weekend as most teams seasons are starting to wind down. Canisius hosts VMI in Buffalo on Saturday and other that not much else is happening close to home. Out west, SFU plays Gonzaga and University of Montana but neither of these venues could be considered close to the border.

The Nationals – Assistant Coaches Named

There is lots of buzz in the National’s camp this week as try-out dates are set for the 3rd and 10th of May and assistant coaches have been hired. The location’s for the try-outs are yet to be finalized but my understanding is the team is looking to hold tryouts in Whitby and that St Mike’s in Toronto will act as a back-up facility if it rains. I am also told that Stu Brown has appointed two outstanding assistant coaches who should be of interest to lacrosse fans throughout the land.

The first is Jason Johnson, who has been a fixture in Six Nations coaching for many years. Besides having won Minto and Mann Cups as a player, Johnson has been closely linked to the Arrows Lacrosse Team which has played at the highest levels of junior lacrosse in Canada for the past decade. Johnson and his wife Tracy are held in extremely high regard in the lacrosse community in Ontario for their work at the grassroots level and Johnson has played an important role in the on and off field development of budding young Iroquois student athletes including Sid Smith, Cody Jamieson, Craig Point and a crop of 16-20 year olds that fans of the NCAA will be hearing about in due course.

Brown has also hired Jeff Genik as an assistant coach for the upcoming season. Brown hired Genik after watching him coach a succession of Beaches teams as well as the first Edge Team. In Brown’s words, “I have never seen a coach that could motivate a player or team as well as Genik.”

Of course, the proof is in the pudding and one only needs to look at this year’s crop of freshman in the NCAA to see examples of Genik’s work.

Genik’s son Aiden plays for Hartford and is the second leading scorer among Canadian freshman in the NCAA with 22 goals and 9 assists in 12 games. Genik has also coached many of the top Canadian’s playing in the NCAA today including Stephen Keogh, Read Acton, Adam Jones and Brock Sorenson.

The Nationals Start Play In a Month – Its Our Team, Our Sport, Our Time!

These are exciting times for Canadian and Iroquois Lacrosse. We have more than 150 of our boys playing in the NCAA and in six weeks times we will have our first professional outdoor team playing at BMO field.

The stadium that Our Team will play in is spectacular and Our Team will be lead by well know stars such as Gary Gait, Brodie Merrill, Colin Doyle, John Grant Jr, Athan Iannucci, Merrick Thompson as well as couple of draft picks from this years graduating NCAA class and the most exciting goalie in the MLL, Brett Queener.

Become part of OUR LACROSSE HISTORY – the National’s home opener is the 22nd of May at BMO Field – its Our Team, Our Sport, Our Time.

Canadian Lacrosse Players in the NCAA

Sorted by Points Per Game

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