The era of Alberta lacrosse playing second fiddle is officially over.
The era of Alberta lacrosse playing second fiddle is officially over.
Okotoks' Ethan Landymore and DeWinton's Matt Flammenspeck helped Alberta notch its first ever gold medal at the minor box lacrosse national championships by downing Ontario 5-4 in the historic Midget boys title match Saturday in Whitby.
“Our coaches told us you'll never forget a championship team and I'll never forget this team,” said Landymore, Alberta's captain and MVP of the tournament. “The outlook now going back to nationals next year and in the following years everyone is going to see Alberta as the team that doesn't come in fourth, the province that's growing in the sport drastically.”
Alberta went wire to wire as the best team in the competition as the only undefeated squad at the championships.
“We all just kept working. Usually that's a problem with teams, when they get down they stop working,” Flammenspeck said. “Our plan was to run, run and run. Our team was built for speed and we did everything really quick, we did our system quick and I feel like we out-ran Ontario.
“When we were practicing we didn't have much time and our coach just made practices as hard as possible, running us after every mistake and getting us conditioned.”
Alberta's coaches Dane Dobbie — a bona fide star for the Calgary Roughnecks and member of Andrew McBride's staff on the Okotoks Jr. A Raiders — and Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame member Todd Lorenz got the players to buy into the transition heavy system and it paid off in spades.
“(Dobbie) came in and taught this group of 20 guys a whole new system nobody has ever seen before,” Landymore said. “It was the different systems and all the players buying into it. It took 30 hours for the 20 boys to get used to it and it paid off.”
This was no upset in Ontario.
Alberta rolled to a 10-2 victory over Nova Scotia, dispatched Manitoba 14-1, edged First Nations 11-6 and took out Saskatchewan by a 6-1 count before getting its first true test.
Alberta registered its first win over Ontario in seven years when it clipped the host province by an 8-5 count in round-robin.
“We knew going in we might not be the strongest team, but we knew we had a really good shot,” Landymore said. “That first game brought everyone up to realize “hey we know we can beat them.'
“That was a good achievement, but we knew we hadn't won anything yet and still had another game against them to come out and prove we are the best team.”
The round-robin closed with another statement victory, slipping past perennial powerhouse British Columbia in a 6-5 nailbiter to earn its way to the gold medal game.
The rematch with Ontario would prove to be even tighter.
Alberta jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to have Ontario score three unanswered in the middle frame to take a 3-2 advantage into the final stanza. Alberta potted the next three and held on for the nervous and jubilant finish.
“It's insane. Just knowing that it's the first ever,” Flammenspeck said. “Everybody just sprinted on the floor. I think our coaches were some of the first people out there. I haven't tossed my gloves or my helmet up in years.”
Flammenspeck and Landymore, long-time teammates on the Okotoks Raiders, won't be sharing the same Alberta uniform next summer with the latter graduating from the minor ranks.
“It's the last Team Alberta box experience for me and I'm glad we came out with the gold,” Landymore said. “Making history is even better.”
Alberta's journey to the top has been more gradual than meteoric.
Last summer Flammenspeck led the province to the silver medal at the Bantam level, dispatching B.C. to get to the championship final.
“Last year we showed a lot of people Alberta is growing,” he said. “This year we went 8-and-0 and people are going to be a little more worried about Alberta in the years to come.
“It's very exciting.”
Peewees fourth
The Alberta Peewees shook off a tough start to take finish fourth at nationals in Whitby.
Featuring Okotoks Raiders Cole Morris and Jayce Dievert, Alberta battled back from opening losses to First Nations, B.C. and Ontario to pick up blowout victories over Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The team's 3-3 record through round-robin booked them a spot in the bronze medal game, a rematch with B.C. that went the way of the left coast in an 8-4 contest.
Dievert was named Alberta's tournament MVP.
