The 2013 Minto Cup was played at historic Queens Park Arena in New West and this year’s has all the liking to be not just interesting, but also electrifying.
The event held a press conference at Centennial Lodge the day prior to the day of the first games with all teams represented, with some players making the first trip west.
Adding professionalism to the event the committee brought www.Playfullscreen.com on board to webcast all the games. The cost is minimal, so sign up and don’t miss a minute of exciting Minto Cup Championship.
This is also the first time in the history of the Minto Cup three On-Floor Officials (Referee’s) will be used for the series. The series is also using four officials, two from BC, one from Alberta and one from Ontario for the overall purpose of consistency and through one game, worked exceptional.
Facts of interest one should know when visiting New West is the City is comprised of 66,000 residents and is located 17 km from Vancouver. The City has three (3) golf courses and hosts one of only two arenas with Wooden Floors in Canada. The other Arena is also in the lower mainland in Burnaby at the Bill Copeland Arena.
The floor itself is made up of 980 four (4) by four (4) boards for a total cost of $316,000.
Lacrosse history for New West dates back to 1888 where the club was initially called the New West Lacrosse Club.
Entering the event the team rankings had Coquitlam as number two (17-4-0) New West third (16-5-0) Whitby forth (15-5-0) and Okotoks not ranked. Six Nations the number one ranked team failed to advance in the playoffs and was beat out by Whitby in the final Championship playoff.
For three rounds Whitby won the first two rounds 3-0 against Barrie Lakeshore, followed by a 4-0 series against Brampton advancing against Six Nations Arrows taking this series to seven games. The three series saw Whitby score the opposition 176-114.
New West had the first series off due to finishing second in the standings and played in the second round against Langley in a best of five series taking it three games to one. They outscored the Thunder by a 34-22 margin and next prepared to face Coquitlam in the League final in the best of five, but were outshoot 51-32, in a series many say, could have gone either way.
The opening ceremonies were impressive as the organizers had the Anthem sung by a 10 year old from the area. Maybe a little off key, but he did far better than most and best of all, he remembered all the words.
Some might say that nerves got the better of the Junior Bellies, but it was clear to see that Whitby won’t be a team to take lightly; and are definitely not the “underdog” by any means as was mentioned at the media conference, by the Ontario rep mentioned.
Whitby came out strong and managed 45 shots in the first two allowing only 29 against.
While the Junior Bellies were down 11-2 after the second, they came out strong and outshot Whitby 24-11 in the final period, but failed to capitalize on any close in shots.
Final shots in game one had Whitby outshoot New West 56-53 with the unsung hero going to replacement “tender” for New West Ross Bowman who took over from Frankie Scigliano who plays for Calgary in the NLL.
Following the game Derek Keenan mentioned “the plan was to come in and score goals, being offensive, but we took the third off. He continued “we took far too many undisciplined penalties and not retaliate, but rather play our game.” He (Keenan) was impressed with the play of his tender Alexis Buque who faced many close in shots, keeping us in the game.
