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Minto dreams stoked in Okotoks

It’s been a five-year journey from the stands to the floor.

It’s been a five-year journey from the stands to the floor.

For DeWinton’s Tom Fream of the Calgary Mountaineers the prospects of playing in a Minto Cup were well and truly ignited when his hometown hosted the national Junior A championship some five summers ago.

“Watching it, I had never seen the arena in Okotoks so packed before. It has been in the back of my mind ever since,” Fream said. “It was a tonne of energy. I had never seen lacrosse games like that before with so many good players from all over Canada.

“It’s the best lacrosse in the world, really.”

He and the Mountaineers will get their shot against the nation’s best next week in Langley, B.C. as the Alberta champions take on the Ontario powerhouse Orangeville Northmen as well as the Delta Islanders who upset the Coquitlam Adanacs to take the B.C. title. Coquitlam also qualified for the event as the tournament hosts.

Alberta makes its return to the Minto Cup for the first time in three years. The past two tournaments saw the Western champions take on the Ontario winners in a best-of-seven series with the tournament returning to its old-four team format in 2016.

Calgary most recently made the tournament in 2012. Two summers ago, they were in Coquitlam for the first ever Western final against the Adanacs where they won one of four games.

Third-year Mounties defender Ryan McLean, who calls Okotoks home, was part of that team as was Tom’s older brother Ben Fream, on loan from the Okotoks Raiders.

Ben also suited up in the 2011 Minto Cup in Okotoks as well as the team’s 2013 entry at the national tournament in New Westminster.

Fast forward three years and Tom gets to continue the family tradition in nearby Langley.

“(Ben) talked about some of the guys he’s played against there and how tough they were,” Tom said. “And how getting out of Alberta it’s a whole new story once you’re over in B.C. or Ontario.

“He said to watch out for that because he got beat up a little bit.”

Calgary enters the competition as an underdog against some of the most prolific franchises in the history of the sport.

Orangeville is a six-time national champion while the Adanacs have finished second in four of the past five championships, winning the event in 2010. The Islanders remain an unknown commodity as first-time competitors at the Minto. Delta loaded up at the trade deadline and carried the momentum into a historic league championship.

The tournament runs Aug. 20-29 at the Langley Events Centre.

“We’ve got to keep our chemistry up,” Fream said. “There is times when we get down in games where we’re not really working together.

“As long as we stay as a unit out at Minto we will do pretty well.”

For more information on the 2016 Minto Cup go to mintocup.pointstreaksites.com


Remy Greer

About the Author: Remy Greer

Remy Greer is the assistant editor and sports reporter for westernwheel.ca and the Western Wheel newspaper. For story tips contact [email protected]
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