Barracudas sink teeth into gold

Lacrosse team captures Midget B provincial title on home soil

The long road started in February and on Sunday afternoon ended in gold for the Lethbridge Barracudas midget B lacrosse team, at home no less. The Barracudas posted a 10-1 win over Wainwright during the gold medal game of the Alberta Lacrosse Association Minor Box Lacrosse Provincial Championships Sunday at Nicholas Sheran Arena.

Battling for a provincial title in front on a loud hometown crowd that packed into a Nicholas Sheran Arena that was only slightly cooler than it was outside, the Barracudas built on a 3-0 lead after the first period with four second period goals for a 7-1 lead after 40 minutes. The Lethbridge Lacrosse Association provincial hosts then added three more in the third and hometown celebration was on.

“It’s amazing, especially to have our moms and dads,” said Barracudas captain Jaxson Geddes. “It’s great to have everybody here. It was just a team effort. We’ve been working since February running. It’s definitely been a journey and I’m glad we finally got it.”

After going 4-0 in the round-robin portion of the tournament Friday and Saturday — including a close 13-12 win Saturday night over Lacoka that put them in the gold medal game — the Cudas hit double digits like they did in the previous four games as Geddes paced the attack Sunday with three goals and assistant captains Conner Cook and Jamie Kukucha added two each.

Thoran Malitowski, assistant captain Mark Federkeil and Ritch Jacklynn added the other Lethbridge goals.

At the other end, only one shot eluded Barracudas goaltender Aiden Tait.

“This is big,” said Barracudas head coach Darren Andre, whose team also won the 15th annual Floorbusters Memorial Tournament at the end of May.” We started running in February, everything else was secondary. This is where we wanted to be, a lot of hard hours and a lot of hard work and a lot sweat and we worked through it.

“We have an unbreakable group this year. We’ve worked extremely hard and guys get pushed every time they show up to the rink. We don’t quit, that’s the biggest thing.” That paid off in spades in Sunday’s final. “It was a hard fought match,” added Andre. “There are 18 guys that did what they had to do to win and that’s what they did. Everybody did their jobs in every match and that’s the end result.”

The end result also took place in front of a boisterous hometown crowd that jammed into a muggy Nicholas Sheran Arena.

“It was amazing, definitely the biggest fan base we’ve had in a long time, it was great,” said Geddes of the boisterous hometown support.

The Cudas captain was also quick to share the moment with his teammates as well.

“We’re family, we’re brothers. They’ll always be with me, I’ll always remember this moment,” said Geddes, who graduates from the midget ranks and will play Tier II junior with the Barrucudas next season.

“This is the best way to end it.”