The 2019 Minto Cup officially kicked off at the Langley Events Centre where world class Junior “A” players hit the floor in search of Junior “A” lacrosse supremacy.

The history of the Minto Cup dates back to 1901 where the championship cup was presented to the Capitals of Ottawa who managed to defeat Cornwall and lost to the Montreal Shamrocks.

From 1901 to 2019 lacrosse has seen and undergone many changes, not just with the rules, but to the size of the goal as well as the floor surface; some of which are carpeted.

In regards to the size of the goal, I am hearing that Ontario is in the discussion stage of using  the large nets for Midget Lacrosse and above mostly due to the size of today’s goaltenders.

The game had lots of hype leading up to the opening face-off that saw both teams on the floor for warm-up an hour and a half prior to opening face-off as well as getting  a “feel for the carpet.”

Coquitlam’s drive to the Minto Cup started by defeating Nanaimo in a six game series winning 4 of the 6 games, while Victoria had a hard fought 7 game series against New Westminster pulling out a 9-8 game 7 win.

The BCJALL final series was a best of three that saw Coquitlam win two games straight outscoring Victoria by a 25-12 count.

Orangeville played a three game series first against Mimico winning in four games (3-1), followed by a five game series against Brampton eliminating them in five (4-1) games followed by a five game series against Burlington in which they won 4-1.

Records and stats are meant to fall by the wayside and regardless of who played who in the previous series the Minto Cup is a new series.

Talent, perseverance and discipline means more than any stat at this time of the season and the second game of the 2019 Minto Cup features the Okotoks Raiders playing the Coquitlam Adanacs.

The Raiders finished the season with a 8-7-0 record through 15 games scoring 144 goals while allowing 143 amassing 310 PIM’s.

The Adanacs finished the season with a record of 14-7-0 through 21 games scoring 229 goals, allowing 132 goals against with 305 PIM”s

On paper, one might think that the advantage should be for Coquitlam, but the talent and level of play in Alberta of late has drastically improved over the past few years, so don’t write off the Raiders.

Size means nothing and following the opening ceremonies it was time for game two with more fans arriving by the minute, but nothing to write home about as far as a possible sell-out might be.

Not sure what it takes to attract fans to a championship, but these players might just be future stars in the NLL in a city near your home town.

The game started somewhat chippy, but slowly settled down in a game that saw the Raiders grab the games opening goal 30 seconds in only to be followed by the Adanacs opener 57 seconds later.

The seesaw battle continued with both clubs exchanging the odd minor, but neither team playing overly  foolish as the period wrapped up 5-4 for Coquitlam.

Great Minto Cup Junior “A” continues at the Langley Events Centre so make plans to attend!!!!!!!

For tickets and info please contact http://www.langleyeventscentre.com/ or phone 604.882.8800