Salmonbellies keeping up with another Jones
The New Westminster Salmonbellies are challenging for a national lacrosse title, with a rangy left-hander named Jones, clad in jersey No. 16, helping lead their offence.
You didn’t step into a time machine. It’s not 1995.
Southpaw sharpshooter Mitch Jones has been one of the stars of this Salmonbellies team that opens up the best-of-seven Mann Cup Senior A Canadian club championship on their Queen’s Park Arena home floor Friday against the MSL champion Peterborough Lakers.
The 25-year-old has vague memories of bounding around the wooden floor of Queen’s Park as a wee youngster. His dad, Randy Jones, was one of the top players with the Salmonbellies from 1992-99, a stint which featured him winning a Western Lacrosse Association scoring title in 1995 and a trio of berths in the Mann Cup.
It was part of a 14-year Senior A career which featured 1,027 points in 375 regular season and playoff games. His 703 assists in both league play and post-season rank him 24th all-time in the country.
The younger Jones has always wanted to wear No. 16, like his dad did. Bouncing around to various teams in the summers, he hasn’t always been able to pull it off. He asked for the jersey when he came to New Westminster prior to last season, and was thrilled to get it, explaining, “I feel really comfortable with it on.”
“I’ve been told that I play like my dad more times than I can probably count,” said Jones, a 6-foot-3, 210 pounder who suits up in the winters with the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League. “We’re both left-handed, both kind of lanky. I guess that’s where the comparison starts. And he is the one who taught me how to play, so it makes sense.”
He taught him well, people would say. Lacrosse folk have taken note of the younger Jones for some time. That included when he put up 58 points, including 23 goals, in 17 playoff games en route to helping Ontario perennial powerhouse Orangeville capture the 2012 Minto Cup national Junior A crown. He was also a celebrated addition of the Victoria Shamrocks in 2013, and was part of the Salmonbellies arch nemesis capturing the Mann Cup in 2015.
It feels, though, that he’s taken a step forward this summer. At its best, the Salmonbellies’ offence appears to run through him, and it’s a gifted group that includes Logan Schuss and off-season pickups Kevin Crowley and Joel McCready.
Jones has a high lacrosse IQ, like his dad, along with a similar accurate shot, and he led the WLA in playoff scoring, producing 55 points, highlighted by 25 goals, in 12 games. He was crucial to New Westminster rallying from a 3-1 deficit in the opening round against the Maple Ridge Burrards, putting up 15 points in those three final wins, including bagging the game-winning goal in the overtime in the seventh and deciding tilt.
“It’s about the opportunities you get and the guys you are playing with,” said Jones, who was picked up by New Westminster for three draft picks in a trade with Victoria prior to last season. “We had a young team last year, but we did have a good group of older guys who made sure that we aren’t scared to talk when you feel you have something say, and it helps make you feel comfortable.
“This winter, Dan (Richardson, New Westminster’s general manager) brought in some great players who are easy to play with. We’re having a lot of fun as a group.”
His uncle, Paul Jones, also spent 19 years in the WLA, including eight years with New Westminster. He was part of the last Salmonbellies’ team to win a Mann Cup, the 1991 squad that beat a Brooklin Redmen team that, oddly enough, featured Randy Jones, who was making a one-season stopover in Ontario.
All told, Randy went to five Mann Cups, but didn’t win one. Mitch maintains that adding to bragging rights around the family dinner table isn’t part of his motivation for this week.
“He’d be proud,” Mitch said. “He’s still helping me with my game today. He’d be happy for me.
“I want to win to bring another one into the family.”