Alberta’s two representatives at the Minto Cup will hope experience is the best teacher. The Okotoks Raiders and Calgary Mountaineers bring recent history to the national Junior A lacrosse championship to the floor when the Minto Cup kicks off this week at the Max Bell Centre against the B.C. and Ontario champion Coquitlam Adanacs and Brampton Excelsiors. “We were an underdog, nobody expected us to do much at Minto in 2016,” said Mountaineers captain Ryan McLean, an Okotokian. “I think people will be more aware of the talent in Alberta, but we will still be looked at as an underdog and I think we’re going to use that to our advantage. We’re going to come out strong and catch the B.C. and Ontario teams off guard. “I’m really excited to get another opportunity to compete for the Minto Cup in my last year. I just hope we can take it home.” Calgary shook a nearly half-century drought for Alberta lacrosse at the 2016 Minto Cup, becoming the first team from the province to beat Ontario or B.C. opposition at the national championship since 1979 when it took down Orangeville and Delta before bowing out in the semifinal round. “Our roster is completely different from 2016,” McLean added. “We have 15 rookies on our roster this season, there aren’t too many guys that have that Minto experience on our roster, but it’s a lot of young talent, they’re all eager and I think we have a really good chance at making a run for it. “I definitely want to build off what we did in 2016 and go even farther.” The Minto Cup dates back to 1901 and was previously used to determine champs in the senior and professional level. Since 1937 the prestigious trophy has been awarded to the junior champions. Alberta has never produced a national champion in Junior A lacrosse. The Raiders competed in last year’s Minto Cup, dropping all three of their contests by two goals or less. “A lot of the guys who were with us last year at the tournament were guys who were healthy scratches,” said Raiders head coach Jesse Fehr. “It’s a pretty cool opportunity for them. When you get to this point, you really need to recognize as a group that the only thing that’s going to separate these teams is decision-making and execution. “The talent on all four of these teams is going to be more or less the same. It’s going to be the team that outworks, makes great decisions with the ball and plays consistently throughout the week who’s going to have the best results.” The Adanacs are pretty much synonymous with the Minto. The perennial B.C. powerhouse are making their 10th straight appearance on the national stage, backstopped by star goalie Christian Del Bianco, who plays professionally for the NLL’s Calgary Roughnecks. Brampton is a bit more of an unknown at nationals, having last appeared in the tournament in 2009 where it finished as the runner-up. The Excelsiors made quick work of the Orangeville Northmen, winning the Ontario championship series four games to one. Jeff Teat, widely considered to be the best outfield junior player in the country, who put up 112 points in 17 games, leads Brampton. “Just understanding that is the Minto Cup and you’re playing a team from B.C. or Ontario doesn’t change what we have to do as a group,” Fehr added. “For a young team trying to keep us focused on ourselves and what we do well in order to be successful is going to be big for us.” Both Calgary and Okotoks advanced to the Minto by virtue of making the Alberta Junior A Lacrosse League finals. The seventh straight meeting in the championship series went the way of the Raiders in seven games. Okotoks snapped a six-year streak of the teams alternating titles, by defending their championship from the prior season. As usual, there was little to choose between the rivals. The Raiders hung on for a 9-8 victory in Game 7 on Aug. 10. “It came down to one goal, Game 7, you couldn’t really ask for a tighter series than that,” McLean said. “It just came down to some of their shots, they got bounces where we didn’t.” The Mountaineers, fresh off a competitive semifinal set with the Saskatchewan SWAT, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the final. “Early on, with their first-round series they were a team playing for their life and they played with a lot of urgency early on,” Fehr said. “It took us a little bit to adjust to that and get into that mindset, once we did we made some good adjustments. “We just had better efforts from all three facets of our game – offence, defence and goaltending.” The Mountaineers have added three SWAT players to their Minto roster in goaltender Laine Hruska and lefty attackmen Liam Diebel and Zach Gould. The Raiders have added Okotoks Marauders netminder Brendyn Kendall to the fold for the Minto run. Raiders rookie Ethan Landymore, the lone Okotokian on the roster, had a strong regular season, but didn’t see any action during the playoff as the team bolstered its roster with transactions. “Ethan’s role of late has been to be a good teammate and to continue to learn,” Fehr added. “And to stay ready to go into the lineup. If you look at guys who are important players for us this year, Christian Norrie, Jett Leonard-Bedier these our guys that played a lot in the regular season last year and didn’t get to play a single game in the Minto Cup and are now in our last minute defence.” The Minto Cup tournament kicks off on Aug. 16 with the Mountaineers and Adanacs locking horns at 5 p.m. followed by the Raiders and Excelsiors clash at 8 p.m. The top-two teams out of round-robin advance to the championship round of the Minto. For full schedule information go to mintocup2018.com
