NLL Insider

Road to the Minto Cup

Shamrocks barely get by Mounties, Minto final set

Orangeville defender and tough guy Andrew Suitor will lock horns with Victoria again on Saturday night in the Minto Cup final.

Well, the host Calgary Mountaineers continued to play some inspired lacrosse during this year’s Minto Cup, going stride-for-stride with the heavily favored Victoria Shamrocks, but ultimately succumbing to the BC champs in the final minutes of the third period, losing 7-4.

The Mounties stormed back early in the third period with goals from Kiel Donahue, Tyler Prindham and Danny Farmer, knotting things up at four and pushing the Shamrocks right up against the wall.

The momentum was definitely in Calgary’s favor, that is until Victoria got two clutch goals in the span of 28 seconds from Cayle Ratcliff, both goals coming in the 18th minute of the intense Minto semi-final.

“They weren’t willing to give up,” Ratcliff told the Calgary Herald after last night’s late game heroics. “When your season’s on the line, you’re willing to do a lot. They were great competitors. I have a lot of respect for them.” READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Orangeville slips by Calgary 7-5 for a spot in finals

They had to do it in the closest game they’ve played yet at this Minto Cup tournament, but last night the Orangeville Northmen earned the spot in the finals that was expected of them with a 7-5 win over the Calgary Mountaineers.

“Full credit for the effort they put out there,” said Northmen head coach Matt Sawyer. “That was the best test we’ve had since we’ve been out here. Their goalie (Drew Dickie) was unbelievable. He stood on his head.” READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Miners loss is Mountaineers gain as Victoria bumps Edmonton from Minto

Last night the Edmonton Miners had one last shot to get one more chance at the 2008 Minto Cup, and perhaps had it been a made-for-TV movie it would have turned out a little differently but as it was the Victoria Shamrocks blew by the Miners 11-5, handing them their third loss of the tournament and eliminating them from semi-final contention.

“The hardest part is saying goodbye to 12 hard-working young men that gave it their all for their last three or four years with the organization,” said Edmonton head coach AJ Jomha. “And not reaching the goals that we’d hoped to reach.” READ MORE »

CLA, Road to the Minto Cup

NLL Insider’s All-Canadian First and Second Teams Announced

As part of today’s National Junior Player of the Year Award announcements, NLL Insider is also announcing our inaugural All-Canadian First and Second Team members.

Our All-Canadian Teams can be best described as simply our All-Pro picks for the Junior game in Canada. Also similar to the NCAA’s All-American selections for a variety of sports.

Our teams consist of three offensive players, two defensive or transitional players and one goaltender. As with our individual award winners, only this year’s regular season was taken into consideration. Past seasons and playoff performances were not factored in.

After the jump, check out who landed a spot on our All-Canadian Teams for the 2008 season. READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Cody Jamieson wins Junior of the Year + other awards

NLL Insider 2008 Player of the Year, Cody Jamieson, shaking hands with St. Catharines Athletics forward, Andrew Potter, after this year's playoffs. (Ward Laforme Jr.)

NLL Insider is proud to announce our inaugural National Junior of the Year Award winners, with Six Nation’s Arrows forward, Cody Jamieson, selected as our first ever Player of the Year.

Jamieson easily led both the OLA and all of Canada in regular season scoring with 101 points in 21 games, helping the Arrows to a second place finish in Ontario.

NLL Insider’s award winners were decided on via a season-long look at players from across the country, both ‘A’ and ‘B’ levels. NLL Insider staff, coaches in the Junior loop, Junior level players, as well as NLL scouts, coaches, management and players who watch the Junior game were consulted throughout the regular season, with all of those opinions factored into our final decisions. READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Northmen double up on Shamrocks 10-5

In a game that featured 12 fighting majors, four misconducts, and a trio of goals from Stephen Keogh, the Orangeville Northmen rolled over the team considered to be their stiffest competition at the Minto, downing the Victoria Shamrocks 10-5 last night.

Orangeville jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first—two of those goals courtesy of Keogh—before Victoria’s Michael Pires found a way around NLLinsider’s goaltender of the year Nick Rose. The period ended with hefty 5-1 Orangeville lead and a few scraps in the bag, including Andrew Suitor vs. Dylan Ward.

“They scored early and we didn’t,” Victoria coach Dan Green told the Calgary Herald. “I think that was the difference in the game. About halfway through we started getting our shooting on, but it wasn’t enough.” READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Mountaineers edge Miners in OT

If there were ever a time to try to force a pun about the Calgary Mountaineers and some seemingly insurmountable mountain, now would be the time—the morning after an improbable third period comeback and 7-6 sudden death overtime win over the Edmonton Miners.

Coming off a vicious 18-2 loss to the Orangeville Northmen, the Miners exploded out of the gate for three early first period goals, maintaining that 3-0 lead until two minutes into the second when Kiel Donahue put the Mounties on the board. Remo Montalbano and Ben Contenti widened the gap again for the Miners with one goal each before Tyler Melnyk struck for Calgary. The period ended with a 6-2 Miners lead after Joe Lehman put one in with six minutes remaining. READ MORE »

RMLL, Road to the Minto Cup

Minto Cup Q&A with Tyler Pridham, captain of the Jr. A Mountaineers

Preparing a team to do battle for the top prize in Jr. A lacrosse is hard enough as it is. Factor in the fact that the beernut gallery is under the impression that your team doesn’t belong in the Minto Cup in the first place and the degree of difficulty increases exponentially. Lucky for the Calgary Mountaineers, they’ve got Tyler Pridham at the helm. Easily one of the top defenders in the province and recently voted the hardest-working player in the league, Captain Pridham spent Friday night foiling Victoria’s plans for a blow-out and tonight will go up against the Edmonton Miners in this summer’s biggest battle of Alberta. Before he got down to the business of spoiling some scorer’s night, Pridham took the time to discuss what it’s like to be written off, being born with no natural skill, and what you’re going to be saying about his team by the time this whole thing’s over. READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Orangeville Northmen dominate Edmonton Miners 18-2

If the excitement of Friday night’s Victoria-Calgary game had fans at the Max Bell Arena on the edges of their seats, then last night the Orangeville Northmen decided to let them relax a little, dominating from the first whistle to the last for an 18-2 win over the Alberta champion Edmonton Miners.

“As a team, we could have played a lot better,” said Orangeville’s Adam Jones, who scored four goals in the game and perhaps forgot what team he was on when interviewed. “We were a little lackadaisical in the third period.”

On top of his four scores Jones added two assists, Stephen Keogh and Jeff Ivey each put in three, and Matt McLeod scored one and helped out on a trio. In addition to keeping the Miners shots to a minimum, the Orangeville defense took control of the transition game, creating many odd-man rush opportunities. Aidan Inglis and Nate Schmidt provided Edmonton’s two bright spots. The Miners will look to bounce back today vs. the Calgary Mountaineers, 7:30 MST at the Max Bell.

In related news:

• Looks like you were ahead of the game on this one, New Jersey: it’s a great season to be orange

National Ranking, Road to the Minto Cup

The fans are diggin’ Jamieson, Flindell and Bremner for JOTY hardware

Rookie of the year candidate, Nanaimo Timbermen's forward, Cody Bremner.

So, after receiving an insane almost 3,500 individual player votes over the past seven days, you guys have three clear cut favorites and two categories that came down to just a few votes, which is crazy considering how many people checked in.

Anyways, after the jump, check out who “you” picked as the fan favorites for this year’s Junior of the Year Awards, and then next week, on August 26 just prior to the Edmonton Miners and Victoria Shamrocks round robin game at the Minto Cup in Calgary, we’ll be announcing our individual category winners, as well as our First and Second All-Canadian teams. READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Minto Cup kicks off tonight

With the first game of the 2008 Minto Cup set to begin just hours from now with the Victoria Shamrocks taking on the host team Calgary Mountaineers at 7:30 PM MST at the Max Bell Arena, here’s a little pre-tournament reading you may want to catch up on:

• Mountaineers hope to silence naysayers, even though we all know that the day that happens in lacrosse is the day the earth stands still: Calgary Herald
• If the Shamrocks hope to rise to the top, first they’ve gotta learn to play at 3,500 feet: Victoria News
• Six straight Minto appearances and still not considered a contender: Calgary Sun
• And apparently there was at least one city that didn’t see the Orangeville Northmen as the favourites for Ontario champs. That would be Orangeville, but who can blame them since their team was going up against the undefeated Arrows (?!): Orangeville Citizen

Road to the Minto Cup

2008 NLL Insider Minto Cup Preview

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… READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Victoria Shamrocks unseat Lakers for final spot in Minto

It may have taken 12 years, but last night someone other than the Burnaby Lakers took the top spot in B.C. and the Victoria Shamrocks did it pretty convincingly with a 9-2 win in game five. Matt Flindell made 40 saves in total, allowing just one goal in the first and one in the third with a shutout period in between, earning him most outstanding player of the tournament honours.

Adding scoring support for the Shamrocks was Kory Kowalyk with two, and singles from Matt Yager, Cayle Ratcliff, Aaron McLean, Michael Pires, Dustin Wadden, Joel Henry, and Cory Conway. Burnaby goals came courtesy of Shaun Dhaliwal and Bill Laidler.

With the Shamrocks now destined for Calgary next weekend, the Minto schedule is as follows. READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Northmen win Ontario

Photo of Nick Rose and Glen Bryan by Ward Laforme Jr.

Andrew Suitor struck first in the game, scoring just 27 seconds in. Adam Jones had three goals and one assist, Matt McLeod had two and one, and Matt McMurray and Greg Harnett added singles. Jones and McLeod finished the playoffs with 58 and 51 points, respectively. Nick Rose earned the win in net. For the Arrows, Mitch Nanticoke led with three goals. Cody Jamieson capped off his decorated Jr. career with 77 points in this year’s playoffs, including one last night.

The Orangeville Northmen will travel to Alberta to take on the best the rest of this country has to offer, including the Edmonton Miners, Calgary Mountaineers, and either the Victoria Shamrocks or Burnaby Lakers as the final game of their series will be played tonight. To see a few more pictures from Ward Laforme Jr., click on. READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

What to watch: Saturday

With only the Edmonton Miners and Calgary Mountaineers having secured their spots in the Minto Cup so far, this weekend could mean big things for the top teams in Ontario and B.C. Not only are the Orangeville Northmen and Burnaby Lakers just one win away from booking their tickets to Calgary, but Peterborough and Brampton continue their battle to see who will host the Mann while Coquitlam and Burnaby Sr. will duke it out to see who will get one step closer to a trip to Ontario. We’re getting down to don’t-blink time in summer ball, so for a quick look at who plays where tonight and for how many marbles, keep reading. READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

You Pick the National Junior Player of the Year Award Winners

Defender of the year candidate Jon Harnett and rookie of the year candidate Randy Staats (photo: Ward Laforme Jr.)

We’re closing in on the day we officially announce our picks for all the National Junior Player of the Year nods, but with a good couple weeks or so before we make anything completely official, we wanted to hear what the fans had to say too.

After the jump you’ll find all the players and coaches we nominated based on what they did in 2008 (emphasis on 2008), and are asking you to let us know who you think deserves the nod out of the pool of players we like. Agree or disagree, we still wanna hear your voice. READ MORE »

RMLL, Road to the Minto Cup

Miners take 2-1 series lead, Giourmetakis expected back for Game 4

Last night the Edmonton Miners dropped the Edmonton Eclipse 10-4 in Game 3 of their best-of-seven series, also taking a 2-1 series lead in what is turning out to be one of the most heated series in all of this summer’s Junior A post-season.

The Miners were led by Lucas Huyser-Wierenga’s three goals as well as Nate Schmidt’s four helpers, landing Schmidt at the top of Alberta’s playoff scoring race with now 23 points over six post-season games.

Game 3 saw the Eclipse without Co-Head Coach Dave Pym on the bench. Pym had been ejected from Game 2 in the series and was handed a one game suspension, which was served last night. READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Photo series from Six Nations’ game seven win

Last night the Six Nations Arrows capped off their improbable semi-final comeback against the St. Catharines Athletics to win game seven 6-2 and earn the right to take on the Orangeville Northmen once again in the Ontario Jr. A finals. If you couldn’t be there you needn’t worry, since not only were the Arrows on top of their game but their photographer Ward LaForme Jr. was too. To check out a few more images from game seven, read on. READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Junior ‘A’ Playoff Studs… So Far

Only seven teams are alive, six when either St. Catharines or Six Nations decides who wants to face Orangeville more tonight in what should be a crazy as hell Game 7 at the ILA.

So with that said and with NLL Insider naming their playoff performer of the year at the conclusion of the Minto, just wanted to check in quickly with the guys that are on our radar at this point in the post-season.

There have been some stellar performances so far, but who’ve been the most impressive over the long haul?

Check out our top ten best ballers so far this post-season… READ MORE »

Road to the Minto Cup

Six Nations bounces back, Victoria edges Burnaby in game one

After losing two games Saturday night and going down 3-1 in their best-of-seven semi-final, the Six Nations Arrows needed a big game on Sunday to keep up both their morale and chances of advancing. A 7-1 win over the St. Catharines Athletics ought to cover it. Over in B.C. the Victoria Shamrocks barely got a breather, beating out the New Westminster Salmonbellies Saturday night to get to the finals, and then winning game one last night 5-4 over the Burnaby Lakers. READ MORE »