NLL Insider

Minto Cup: Day 3 Rewind, Orangeville & Coquitlam pull out W’s

It was almost 365 days to the day yesterday when the Calgary Mountaineers put a real scare into the eventual ‘08 Minto Cup champs, Orangeville Northmen, dropping a game to the Horn Heads by a slim 7-5 score, again giving a bit of proof that that “gap” between Ontario’s best and Alberta’s best might not be as gaping as once thought (Victoria barely got by Calgary last year too).

Last night, even more proof.

Whether you felt Orangeville was kinda just going through the motions or not, the Edmonton Eclipse almost pulled off the first Alberta over Ontario win on the national Jr. A stage, dropping last night’s round robin close-out to the OLA champs 10-9.

The rest of Day 3, after the jump. READ MORE »

Minto Cup: Weekend Wrap Up

The Minto Cup kicked off this past weekend in Brampton, with the Orangeville Nothmen holding down the fort, a 16-8 beatdown of the Coquitlam Adanacs, and what works out to their fifth straight win over the Brampton Ecelsiors, 8-5.

The two wins likely lands the Northmen a spot in the tournament’s best-of-three final, and at the very least one of the two semi-final spots going to the second and third place round robin finishers.

Orangeville finishes their one-off action tomorrow night against the 0-2 Edmonton Eclipse, who came close against Coquitlam yesterday, but couldn’t hang around in the third period during an 11-6 loss. READ MORE »

Coquitlam Adanacs- off to the minto and fighting for their lives

In less than twenty-four hours the Coquitlam Adanacs will head off to Brampton, Ontario for the Canadian National Junior Lacrosse Championships – their first visit to this show in over twenty years. They are packing some pretty heavy heat – the best rookie in the country, who also happens to be the league’s top scorer (107 pts) and league MVP- Robert Church; the goalie of the year- Dan Lewis; the league’s most sportsman like player and play-off MVP- Trevor Moore; the league’s most inspirational player- Brandon Turner; and several league all-stars (Lewis, Church, Moore and former Six Nations Arrow Corbyn Tao) Not to mention the twenty other weapons in the arsenal. READ MORE »

NLL Insider’s Minto Cup Primer

We’re only a couple days away from the Minto Cup dropping live in the city of Brampton, the Orangeville Northmen, Coquitlam Adanacs and Edmonton Eclipse joining the host Excels to make-up one helluva final four.

All four teams are coming off hard fought, gritty, back-and-forth final series that saw both Ontario and Alberta’s gold go a full seven games.

Can Orangeville be the first repeat champ since the 04/05 Burnaby Lakers? Can Brampton continue to show they’re more than just hosts? Will Coquitlam continue proving just about everyone wrong and keep pushing forward? And can Edmonton do what no Albertan team has done before them and win it all?

Check out the answer to those questions and more in NLL Insider’s Minto Cup Primer, ranked in order of our recent fan vote. READ MORE »

Coquitlam is headed East, led by Aged-up Rooks and Junior ‘A’ Vets

The Coquitlam Adanacs earned the right to advance to the Minto Cup championship with a 4-2 series win over the New Westminster Salmonbellies last weekend. The A’s clinched the series with a Game 6 win, 6-5. It was the ‘Bellies first-loss on their home floor this post-season.

“The season was an amazing experience,” added Robert Church, who had a league-best 107-point regular season. “Being aged up was nice and it gave me a taste of how box lax is going to be for the next three years.”

“As for the hardware, the only one we want is the Minto Cup which we haven’t achieved yet,” said Church, when asked about his new titles which include BCJALL ‘09 Rookie of the Year and League MVP. READ MORE »

Minto Cup and Junior A Post-Season Media & Stats Central

The Canadian Jr. A post-season is well underway, and NLL Insider is bringing you every series from across the country in one place to catch you up to speed on what’s gone down and what’s to come.

Everyday, right up until the Minto Cup final, we’ll update you on previous night’s scores, stats, series leaders and regional media coverage.

Monday’s score… In one of the biggest series comebacks in CLA history, the Orangeville Northmen completed their come-from-behind, taking Game 7 last night at Tony Rose by a score of 9-6, seeing them win a series they were down 0-3 at one time. “I can’t say enough about the group,” Northmen coach Matt Sawyer told the Orangeville Banner. “They could easily have said, ‘screw it’ when we were down three nothing to Brampton, ‘we’ll get them in the Minto.’ But that’s not what we’re all about. This team wouldn’t do something like that.”

For more on this year’s post-season, check it all out, after the jump. READ MORE »

Minto Cup Final Four, Full Schedule, Plus Fan Poll

Although the Orangeville Northmen and Brampton Excelsiors have some things to work-out tonight in a one time pretty unlikely Game 7 to crown Ontario’s in-season champ, results from this past weekend have locked in the summer’s final four competing Minto teams, that being Orangeville (OLA champ or runner-up), Brampton (host and/or OLA champ), Coquitlam Adanacs (BCJALL champ) and the Edmonton Eclipse (RMLL Jr. A champ).

After the jump, check out how this year’s Minto schedule plays out, games kicking off this coming Saturday at the Powerade Centre in Brampton. Also, make sure to cast your vote for who you think takes this year’s Jr. A crown, after the jump. Plus check back later this week for NLL Insider’s team-by-team Minto Cup preview. READ MORE »

A New Champ Will Be Crowned This Weekend

There was a point in last night’s BC Jr. A final game 5, where you thought the New Westminster Salmonbellies were going to walk into the Palace on Poirier and steal a victory from the Coquitlam Adanacs. Then Robert Church scored a power play goal half way through the second to tie the score and send then A’s on a four goal outburst over the next five minutes to put the game away. Sure at that point it only made the score 2-2 but in the tightest defensive game of the series it was more than enough. READ MORE »

BCJALL: Coquitlam and New West, knotted up at 2-2 in Best-of-7 Final

The Coquitlam Adanacs and New Westminster Salmonbellies are all tied up at 2-2 in their Best-of-7 series for the B.C. Junior ‘A’ Lacrosse League (BCJALL) title. Each game has been won by the home team, with the ‘Bellies pulling off a crucial 10-6 win on Tuesday night. The two teams are right back at it on Wednesday with a game that can also be seen live from the junioradanacs.com starting at 8pm PST.

“These are two very close teams. We match-up to each other very, very well – from goaltending on out,” added Coquitlam GM Ken Wood. “What you’re seeing right now is what a finals should be… You’re seeing a hell of a struggle, a lot of warriors.”

After the jump, hear more feedback from Game 4 and vote on who you think will come out on top in this great BCJALL final. READ MORE »

Games of the Week: Minto Cup action heats up

The playoffs keep rollin’ on and players keep grindin’ it out. As the summer winds down, players begin to feel the wear and tear that a full season of box takes on the body. But players keep pushing through it in their efforts to make it to the Minto Cup tournament. With two teams in Ontario having punched their tickets already, B.C. and Alberta contenders stand locked at 1-1 in both their series as they battle to see who will represent their respective province. These same match-ups continue on into this week’s ‘Games to Watch’ as they certainly are games to watch. Man I love the playoffs. Check these out: READ MORE »