St. Catharines, Welland among 23 teams to back cancelling junior B lacrosse season
Nixing of this year’s Founders’ Cup had snuffed out chance to play for national title
Canada’s national summer game won’t be played at the junior B level in Niagara this summer.
All 23 Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League (OJBLL) teams, including the St. Catharines Spartans and Welland Generals, agreed in an online meeting Wednesday to cancel the 20-game regular season due to COVID-19.
League commissioner Dave Vernon announced the decision with “much regret” Thursday.
“The health and safety of our members and their families are paramount, and we appreciate that our members have been doing their personal best to help prevent this virus from spreading,” he said.
A 10-game schedule starting July 1 and championship qualifying tournaments involving division rivals were among the scenarios under consideration by the OJBLL, which had been holding out hope that some semblance of a season could be salvaged.
“We started back in March making alternate schedules, and we had three different schedules that were set to start June 1, July 1 and July 15. But, with the government and ministries of health extending startup dates further into the summer, this decision was inevitable,” Vernon said.
“Many players and teams were hopeful of a different outcome, with players working to keep their stick skills up and trying to be prepared for any type of season to appear.
Unfortunately, this unavoidable conclusion was apparent to the entire league.”
Equally apparent to the teams as they headed into the online meeting this week was that they wouldn’t able to contend for a national title in any case.
The Founders’ Cup is among the Canadian championships the sport’s national governing body has postponed until at least 2021.
“There was no tournament to play for, so the option was that there was no point in waiting out moves by the government and health services to open up facilities,” he said.
Also cancelled by the Canadian Lacrosse Association was the Minto Cup junior A championship that had been set to take place Aug. 15-22 at Meridian Centre in St. Catharines.
Last week, the St. Catharines Athletics were among the 11 junior A teams in the province that agreed, also unanimously, to pull the plug on the 2020 season.
“They cancelled a little early, in my opinion, but each league has to go with the feeling of their members,” Vernon said. “Our guys were willing to hold out a little longer.”
The third junior B team from the region — the Niagara Thunderhawks, based in Niagara-on-the-Lake — did not take part in the discussion.
“They’re taking a year off, so that left us with 23 teams,” the junior B commissioner said.