With the Minto Cup – Canadian Jr. A Lacrosse Championships – now just over a month away, the St. Catharines Athletics began their playoff run Monday night in Whitby.
It was Game 1 in the best of five opening round playoff series, with Game 2 set for Wednesday night at Canada Games Park in Thorold.
The A’s finished the regular season with a (12-8) record good for sixth place in the 11-team Ontario Jr. A lacrosse loop.
Whitby finished third at (14-6).
St. Catharines Jr. Athletics President Paul Coates feels the teams regular season record doesn’t reflect all the moves General Manager Jeff Chcoski made down the stretch.
“I think everyone would agree that there was definitely some games that we should have won that we let slip away,” said Coates recently on the Niagara Sports Report on 610 CKTB.
“It’s well documented that we made a lot of trades, brought in a bunch of guys. You don’t arbitrarily bring in eight new guys and mesh smoothly right from the get go. We probably wish we had a couple of more wins on the board, and finish fourth or fifth.
My son, Dan Coates who plays in the National Lacrosse League (captained Rochester last season) made a great statement, ‘you don’t win the Minto Cup in July.’
Monday night the A’s and Whitby were tied 4-4 after one period of play. St. Catharines trailed 8-6 after 40 minutes, before Lucas Littlejohn – a former Niagara IceDog – scored a hat-trick in the third period lifting the home side to the five-goal victory.
Coates, along with the entire A’s coaching staff, would prefer to earn their way into the Minto Cup. Either way, St. Catharines as hosts will play come August 16, with the Ontario champion or runner-up, along with the British Columbia and Alberta Jr. A champion.
“It took us a while to get the Minto Cup agreement, between the three provinces, along with Lacrosse Canada, finalized, and that was stressful” Coates said.
“It was a lot of work, and we’re finally ready to show off the Meridian Centre, the City of St. Catharines and the whole Niagara Region as to what a great lacrosse area we are, and put on a really great show.”
St. Catharines is also home to the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
The Coquitlam Adanacs finished atop the British Columbia Junior A Lacrosse League regular season standings at (14-3) while the Jr. Raiders, who play out of Calgary, wrapped up the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League regular season with a (13-2) record.
The Minto Cup runs from August 16-23 inside the air-conditioned Meridian Centre in downtown St. Catharines.
Ticket packages are on sale now here with single-game tickets soon to be available.
Rod Mawhood is a lifelong Niagara native who has had the pleasure of working in all three mediums – Radio, Print and TV – for over 20 years. His first announcing gig was with the then St. Catharines Stompers. Since then he’s worked in radio and TV in Toronto, and currently is the announcer for the Niagara IceDogs and Niagara River Lions.
Rod also covers the Buffalo Bills for FOX Sports and the Buffalo Sabres for NBC Sports.
