Recap: Minto Cup Day Three
Photo: Shelly Fey
By Adam Levi
We are inching closer to the finale we are all eagerly waiting for.
On Monday night, the four Minto Cup teams completed their round robin schedules. The Raiders Lacrosse Club’s 12-5 loss to the Port Coquitlam Saints knocked out the tournament’s youngest squad at the event.
And, while the Orangeville Northmen’s 12-9 win over the Coquitlam Adanacs didn’t impact the standings at all, it did give fans the fans thew matchup many have been waiting for (albeit with adjusted rosters to rest players for the upcoming games).
There is almost always a harsh reality check for the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse teams who are suddenly thrust into contests against the best teams from British Columbia and Ontario, but the Raiders showed us on many occasions that they were able to go toe-to-toe with the best-of-the-best in Jr. A lacrosse.
Last night, the Raiders could only muster five goals against the formidable Saints, but we did see goals from the likes of 16-year-old Cash Frijters, as well as from Wyatt Viste, Russel Bollinger, and Dylan Belliveau - these four scored 14 of the team’s 19 total goals during the round robin.
If you’re a Raiders fan, this was the last time that you’d see Captain Colton Savard and Assistant Captain Josh Goodman in a Raiders uniform as they have now aged out of junior. They have been incredible leaders for this team over the years and will be missed as they move on beyond junior ball. On the flip side, those are the only two players graduating from the Raiders, so this team will have almost all of its 2024 roster back for another Minto Cup run next year.
The Saints Josh Mills and Silas Richmond were forces to be reckoned with last night against the Raiders. The duo scored six goals and finished with a combined nine points. We also saw Captain Brayden Laity notch two goals for himself - the second of the two was an empty-netter.
Seven different goalscorers found the back of the net last night, but the real stars of the show yesterday were Saints goaltender Ashton Brown and the defense in front of him. They made it difficult for the Raiders to find much rhythm, so they got the ball moving up the floor and scored in transition. Brown stopped the vast majority of the shots he faced (he saved 41 of 46 shots on goal).
In the night’s final showdown between the Adanacs and the Northmen, we didn’t see some of the usual leading suspects that we’ve seen in earlier parts of this tournament. Several players were rested as both teams knew by game time that they would be playing in at least one more game. This allowed for the younger players on these stacked teams to have more focus cast on them.
We saw Orangeville’s Cam Sanderson, who has another year left of junior, score a Jr. A career-high four goals. We saw Northmen rookies Sean Costigan, Vince Onofrio, and Cam’s brother, Dylan, all score - Onofrio and Costigan’s goals were their first career Minto Cup goals. For the Adanacs, we saw the likes of Parker Kennedy put up four points from two goals and two assists and we saw Nathan Chalmers score for the third game in a row.
It should also be noted that Northmen goaltender Lindyn Hill, not go-to starter Connor O’Toole, was in between the pipes on this night. Hill stopped 11 of 13 shots he faced in the first period and stopped 33 of 42 shots on the night.
Tonight’s lone game will the be second-place vs. third-place game between the Saints and Northmen starting at 7pm PST. It is a win-or-go-home match. The winner will face the Adanacs in best-of-three finals beginning August 22nd.
This is an enticing rematch from earlier in the tournament when the Saints “upset” the Northmen 12-7. You won’t want to miss this one. Make sure you check it out tonight on JuniorAdanacTV if you aren’t able to make it out to the Poirier Sport & Leisure Complex.
