Meredith Cup quest starts Saturday
Jr. A Lakers, Jr. C Lakers both facing Six Nations in provincial championships starting this weekend
Two Peterborough junior lacrosse teams are hoping to make some noise against similar opposition at the most important time of year.
The Peterborough Merit Precision Jr. A Lakers and MinCom Kawartha Lakers Jr. C Lakers are facing Six Nations squads in Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA) championship series, starting this weekend.
The Junior A Lakers are meeting the Arrows in a best-of-seven affair, starting in Six Nations on Sunday while the Jr. C Lakers are taking on the Warriors in a best-offive Ontario Jr. C Lacrosse League (OJCLL) tilt, called the Meredith Cup, with Game 1 at the Memorial Centre at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The winner of the junior A series advances to host the Minto Cup while the Meredith Cup is the end of the line in junior C, with no national championship appearance at stake.
It is also a little different regarding the teams they are facing as the Lakers and Arrows split two games during the regular season while Peterborough, winners of the East, never met the West winning Warriors this campaign.
The Jr. A Lakers also beat a team they were projected to defeat in the semi-finals, the Brampton Excelsiors 4-1, while the Jr. C Lakers knocked off a team many thought they would never get past, the previously undefeated Clarington Shamrox in the East final 3-1.
Organizers of all units involved say these are pretty exciting times for their respective communities and it’s an added bonus teams from the same locales are meeting each other in finals.
“It is quite an accomplishment for these communities to get this far,’’ said Jr. A Lakers president Tim Barrie.
“They have grown their minor systems. Six Nations is very similar to us. They have good coaching, goaltending, offence, strong defence and can be physically tough. These are two equal teams. We both won
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our games at home. We beat them in our last game and it was a confidence builder. It showed we could beat them and were every bit as good. We had a mental block before and it ended that. All the pieces are in place and this is their chance.”
Barrie said a key, with the teams being so even, was consistency.
“You need that and composure,” he said. “You want to stop runs and frustrate the other team.”
Jr. C Lakers general manager Terry Preston said everything has come together at the right time.
“We have great defence and goaltending and the offence has clicked,” he said.
“We (the teams) don’t know much about each other and will feel each other out in the first period; then it will be war. I know they are a good team (like Clarington, 16-0 in the regular season although games were taken away because of a suspension). They are good no matter what. It’s nice to see these Peterborough teams doing well. We are chomping at the bit.”
Preston said winning the first game of their series on the road against Clarington was huge.
“We knew we had to win one in their arena and did it right away,” he said. “It was a mental thing and we believed (then) we could do it.”
Game 2 in the series is in Six Nations at 2 p.m. Sunday with Game 3 at the Kinsmen Civic Centre at 8 p.m. Wednesday. If necessary, Game 4 is on the road at 2 p.m. Aug. 8 with Game 5 in Ennismore at 7 p.m. Aug. 9.
Game 2 in the junior A final is at the Memorial Centre at 8 p.m. Tuesday.