NLL Insider

The Junior A playoffs are here and the box lacrosse world is buzzing all across Canada. From B.C. to Alberta to Ontario, people everywhere are turning their attention to the playoff season. When the playoffs roll around, it is the beginning of a new season. Some call it the “real season” due to the fact that it is do or die as teams compete to win Provincials and go on to play for the Minto Cup. So here’s a look:

Burnaby Lakers vs. Coquitlam Adanacs

A rematch of last year’s semifinal, the Lakers face a heavily favored Coquitlam team who tore through their regular season schedule with only one blemish, a mid-season loss to Delta. Do the Lakers have enough firepower to follow suit from last year and pull off another upset of the top-ranked Adanacs?

With Coquitlam taking the first game in the series, it seems Burnaby might be in a bit of trouble. But don’t count these boys out just yet.

The Lakers made quick work of Delta in the first round in order to move on to face Coquitlam. Although Burnaby dropped the first game 11-8, there were still some bright spots in the  game. Shawn Dhaliwal (1,3) and Jaxson Lee (0,4) led the way with four points each. While regular season team scoring leader Riley Loewen only potted two goals, the Lakers saw 10 players register points in the game. One of the biggest positives in this game was the fact that that goalie Ray Hodgkinson held regular season scoring champ and rookie sensation Robert Church without a point. Props to a Burnaby team on this one, especially when Church dropped 107 total points in the regular season.

But this is a perfect example of why the Adanacs are so good. With Church going pointless, the team still manages to pull out a win. Coquitlam has so many players on their roster who can produce points that if one guy has a tough game, there are three or four other players who will step up. Look for Burnaby to come out on Sunday on a mission to take Game 2 and tie the series up.

The Adanacs have been stunning all year. Twenty total wins is an incredible feat for any team during the regular season. But with last year’s early exit, to Burnaby, this Coquitlam team has seemed to be playing with a chip on their shoulder all season. In the first game, Robert Morris teammates Trevor Moore (2,2) and Corbyn Tao (2,3) led the way to the high power Coquitlam offense. Even with Robert Church throwing a big goose egg on the the score sheet, the Adanacs were still able to produce and put up double digits.

Tendy Dan Lewis, who played stellar in the regular season, seems to be carrying that play over into the playoffs as he made 35 saves only giving up eight goals. The series is already intense. With the result from last year, Coquitlam is angry and Burnaby wants to do the same thing as they did last year. Look for the rest of the games to be like the first one: close and exciting.

Six Nations Arrows vs. St. Catherines Athletics

The OLA playoffs have not had any surprises yet this year. In every matchup, the higher seed is up 2-0 in their series so it makes it a little tough to choose the most intriguing matchup. But this 4 vs. 5 series seems to be one that could prove to be exciting.

This has been a puzzling year for the Arrows to say the least. With the exit of Cody Jamieson from the Junior game, it has been a burden to figure out how to fill that gap. A team can never replace a player like Jamieson but they can attempt to fill the void he left, which is exactly what the Arrows did. Randy Staats has become a top caliber player this summer as he has stepped into the scoring role vacated by Jamieson. His 95 points were tops on the team and his 56 assists shows that his teammates are producing as well. Jake Kicknosnay-Louks and Pierce Abrams has 65 and 53 points respectively which gave Staats a lot of support offensively.

Keeper Randy Johnson did a stellar job of holding down the defense posting a 8.06 GAA in the regular season. He will definitely need to keep this type of play up if the Arrows expect to compete. But the biggest part of the season for the Arrows was in a trade they made to bring in Jerome Thompson from Akwesasne. This could be the missing piece to this Six Nations team. Is Thompson enough to bring the Arrows past other top teams like Orangeville, Brampton and Burlington?

The playoffs could be real interesting if everyone keeps winning.

St. Catherines has also had somewhat of a puzzling year. After going 8-1 in their first nine games, which included a monster win over Orangeville, the A’s went on to lose five out of their next six, including four straight. Then they traded away their top scorer and arguably the best player in the OLA this year in Andrew Potter. Leaving some scratching their heads with this move, the A’s went on the to finish the season at 14-8 and nabbed the fifth seed in the playoffs. Now they find themselves facing a Six Nations team who is looking to make some noise in the playoffs this year.

Although St. Kitt’s is down 2-0 in the series, don’t count out these guys just yet. Joey Resetarits‘ (Albany) 88 points were tops on the team this year and through two games he already has nine points. Not bad for an American. But he is not the only A who was putting up numbers throughout the year. Geoff McNulty and Joel McCready notched 75 and 70 points of their own while Bryan Neufeld dropped 65. There were plenty of guys on this roster who put up numbers and proved they could produce.

Goalies Zach Bowen and Zack Boychuk were also solid between the pipes. They put up 9.21 and 8.42 GAA respectively. If these numbers continue like this for these two keepers and more than just a fe guys on the roster are putting up points, St. Catherines could give this Six Nations team something to worry about.

Calgary Jr. Raiders vs. Calgary Jr. Mountaineers

The regular season finished up in quite an interesting way. With the Raiders losing their final two games and two Eclipse wins, the Edmonton team jumped up to grab the first seed going into the playoffs. This set up two cross-town rivalry games in both cities as these two teams square off and the Eclipse face the Edmonton Jr. Miners.

The Raiders took the regular season series 3-2 and look to carry this into the playoffs. But they seemed to have hit somewhat of a rough spot toward the end of their season. The last four games have produced a win, a tie, and two losses. This is not so good going into the post-season. Casey MacIntyre will need to play a huge role if the Raiders want to compete for the Minto in August. All year he has been a workhorse for this team and, with this being his final year in the Junior loop, he must continue this kind of play in the playoffs. Although MacIntyre does a lot for this young Raiders team, other guys will have to pull their weight in the playoffs also. Jake Hayes (Robert Morris) and Chad Mitchell will have to lead the offense alongside MacIntyre. These guys need to produce some big points if the Raiders expect to compete.

Guys like Travis Comeau (Georgetown), Brandon Nowakowski and top D-guy Danny Dahms will have to provide support both offensively and defensively. In the regular season, Raiders’ goalies Adam Shute and Greg Hallet owned the top two spots amongst golaies in the league. These two will have to do whatever it takes to keep the ball out of the net.

Most of the talk this year in Alberta has seeemed to revolve around the turnaround Raiders and the Edmonton Eclipse. But the Jr. Mounties had an extremely good season as well. Finishing only two points out of first place, they tied the Raiders for second with 26 points. The two big names in Danny Farmer (Mars Hill) and B.C.-product Kiel Donahue have led the way all season. These two guys put up tons of points but they are also all over the floor taking draws, picking up loosies and playing D. One guy that has not been given much credit in Tyler Melnyk. He led their team in points in the regular season with 54 and will look to continue his scoring ways in the playoffs. Former Edmonton Eclipse goalie Mitch Anders has been huge between the pipes for this team. He and Andrew Houghton led the Mounties to the second best defense in the league, only behind the Raiders. Look for these two cross-town rivals to shake things up a bit in the playoffs. This series should be extremely intense and a beauty to watch.

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