THE MINTO CUP
A BRIEF HISTORY

The Governor General, the 4th Earl of Minto (Sir Gilbert John Murray Kynmond Elliot), donated the ‘Minto Cup’ in 1901 for challenge competition to be awarded to the top Senior ‘amateur’ team among the championship teams of the ‘Senior’ leagues across Canada. Within three years, challengers included both ‘amateur’ and ‘under-the-table’ professional teams.

By 1910, the Minto Cup was taken over by the newly emerging West Coast professional league and became symbolic of lacrosse pre-eminence in the professional ranks, the New Westminster Salmonbellies dominating professional play at the time. When the West Coast professional league ended in 1924, the Minto Cup was put into storage and for a time ‘lost and forgotten’.

The Minto Cup was transferred to the Canadian Lacrosse Association in the early 1930s and in 1937 was designated as the top Canadian Junior A box lacrosse championship award. The first Junior A team to capture the Minto Cup championship was the Orillia Terriers, defeating the Vancouver Burrard Bluebirds. Since that time, with a brief interlude during the war years (1943, 1944, 1945) and the Covid-19 pandemic (2020, 2021), the Minto Cup has remained the pre-eminent symbol of Junior A lacrosse excellence across Canada.

References: Prepared by Mark Evans; Comprehensive Timeline, Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Online February 4, 2022. [https://www.clhof.org/index.php/archives/stories/comprehensive-timeline]; Fisher, Donald M. (2002). Lacrosse: A History of the Game. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press; Minto Cup, Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Online February 4, 2022. [https://www.clhof.org/index.php/museum/physical/curator-s-choice/78-minto-cup]; Minto Cup Champions, Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, Online July 5, 2022. [https://www.clhof.org/index.php/about/in-the-news/news/31-notable-supplemental/1430-minto-cup-supplemental]; and Morrow, Don (1989). Lacrosse as the National Game. In Morrow, Don & Cosentino, Frank, A Concise History of Sport in Canada, pp. 45-68. Oxford University Press.

PAST CHAMPIONS

1937 Orillia Terriers

1938 Mimico Mountaineers

1939 no decision

1940 Ontario All-Stars

1941–1946 (no competition, World War II)

1947 St. Catharines Athletics

1948 Vancouver Burrards

1949 Vancouver Norburn Eagletime

1950 St. Catharines Athletics

1951 Mimico Mountaineers

1952 Brampton Excelsiors

1953 New Westminster Salmonacs

1954 Vancouver PNE Junior Indians

1955 Long Branch Monarchs

1956 Mount Pleasant (Vancouver) No.177 Legionnaires

1957 Brampton ABC Excelsiors

1958 Brampton ABC Excelsiors

1959 Brampton ABC Excelsiors

1960 New Westminster Salmonbellies

1961 Hastings Legionnaires

1962 Victoria Shamrocks

1963 Oshawa Green Gaels

1964 Oshawa Green Gaels

1965 Oshawa Green Gaels

1966 Oshawa Green Gaels

1967 Oshawa Green Gaels

1968 Oshawa Green Gaels

1969 Oshawa Green Gaels

1970 Lakeshore Maple Leafs

1971 Richmond Roadrunners

1972 Peterborough PCO’s

1973 Peterborough PCO’s

1974 Peterborough PCO’s

1975 Peterborough Gray-Munros

1976 Victoria MacDonalds

1977 Burnaby Cablevision

1978 Burnaby Cablevision

1979 Burnaby Cablevision

1980 Whitby CBC Builders

1981 Peterborough James Gang

1982 Peterborough James Gang

1983 Peterborough James Gang

1984 Whitby Warriors

1985 Whitby Warriors

1986 Peterborough Maulers

1987 Peterborough Maulers

1988 Victoria-Esquimalt Legion

1989 Peterborough Maulers

1990 St. Catharines Athletics

1991 St. Catharines Athletics

1992 Six Nations Arrows

1993 Orangeville Northmen

1994 New Westminster Salmonbellies

1995 Orangeville Northmen

1996 Orangeville Northmen

1997 Whitby Warriors

1998 Burnaby Lakers

1999 Whitby Warriors

2000 Burnaby Lakers

2001 St. Catharines Athletics

2002 Burnaby Lakers

2003 St. Catharines Athletics

2004 Burnaby Lakers

2005 Burnaby Lakers

2006 Peterborough Lakers

2007 Six Nations Arrows

2008 Orangeville Northmen

2009 Orangeville Northmen

2010 Coquitlam Adanacs

2011 Whitby Warriors

2012 Orangeville Northmen

2013 Whitby Warriors

2014 Six Nations Arrows

2015 Six Nations Arrows

2016 Coquitlam Adanacs

2017 Six Nations Arrows

2018 Coquitlam Adanacs

2019 Orangeville Northmen

2020, 2021 (no competition, Covid-19 Pandemic)

2022 Whitby Warriors

2023 Burlington Blaze

2024 Coquitlam Adanacs