Goaltenders Battle

Wednesday was a day off for those involved with the 2016 Minto Cup following two games a day at the week long tournament at the Langley Events Centre.

After winning their opening two games Coquitlam advanced to the finals for the 8th straight year in the Minto Cup before dropping game three to Delta, which eliminated the Islanders despite the win.

Other news in the round robin play saw the Calgary Mountaineers make history by defeating Delta in their opening game 13-5.

Orangeville advanced to the final and will face Coquitlam in the final series to decide who will be crowned this year’s champion.

The preliminary round saw Coquitlam defeat the Northmen by a narrow 8-7 score showing just how close the teams are in talent pool.

This will mark the first appearance by Orangeville in the Minto Cup finals since 2009 the last they the national Junior A Lacrosse title.

Game one saw exceptional goaltending in what was an extremely cautiously played game, thereby lacking the offense we have seen in past games.

Scoring was at a premium with the fans being treated to a 3-2 final score with Coquitlam’s Del Bianco and Northmen’s Nolan Clayton shutting the door on several occasions.

Del Bianco faced 44 shots, stopping 42, while Clayton stopped 31 with only one goal in the first coming from Downs.

Orangeville tied the game early in the second with Henrick hitting the back of the twine only to see Coquitlam return the favour taking a 2-1 lead.

Holding a short-lived lead saw Orangeville’s Gilray tie the game late in the second taking a 2-2 score to the dressing room.

Coquitlam had the home advantage with several supporters cheering them on, which proved a motivation for Armstrong who put the Adanac’s up by a 3-2 tally.

Following the game we had the chance to talk to both coaches and below are their thoughts on this well played game.

Coquitlam’s Assistant Coach Kyle Sorensen stated “To win 3-2, as an offensive coach, it’s obviously not a perfect game but we dug deep and our defense played well enough to hold them to two.”

Orangeville Northmen Coach DJ Clevely stated “I was curious to see how the outcome was going to be with everyone kind of knowing each other a little bit better now, but we aren’t really worried about the outcome we are more concerned about the process.”

He continued “Forget about tonight and go out and play and hopefully defensively we build off our play, push the pace, and finish on some of our opportunities. We are not going to change our game plan at all it is going to be the same.”

All remaining games are played at the Langley Events Centre with game two taking to the floor/carpet tonight (August 26^th) at 8 pm.

Game 3: Saturday, August 27, 8:00pm

Game 4: Sunday, August 28, 8:00pm ***If Necessary

Game 5: Monday, August 29, 8:00pm ***If Necessary

While in the Press Box” we had the opportunity to offer some Lacrosse Instruction 101 to Life Vancouver, Japanese Canadian press reporter Kiyomi Guscott on the ins and out of lacrosse.

It was Mrs. Guscott’s first time covering the sport.

All photo’s from Sportswave Photographer http://www.dlairdallan.ca/