The St. Albert Miners will travel a shorter road to nationals this year, if they can win their third straight Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League championship.
The journey to nationals would only take the two-time defending provincial senior B champions down the road to Spruce Grove for the Presidents’ Cup at Grant Fuhr Arena.
“If the guys stick to the system we should be in Spruce Grove in August,” said head coach Vay Diep.
The Aug. 27 to Sept. 2 nationals will feature teams from six leagues across Canada and the host Spruce Grove Slash. The last time the tournament was played in Alberta was 2007 in Sherwood Park.
Last year at the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne in Ontario the Miners duplicated their result at the 2010 nationals in Burnaby, B.C. with two wins and four losses.
Brad Scott led the Miners in points with 22 and Kyle Schram was the top goal scorer with 10.
Netminder Alex Coutts, a pickup from the Calgary Knights, was named to the second all-star team. His goals-against average was 9.63.
“Last year’s nationals was a little more difficult with all the teams that were somewhat stacked up against us with pros. I think four out of seven teams there had at least six-plus pros. I’m not saying it’s an excuse, because we didn’t play too well either,” Diep said of the fifth-place finish. “The core guys who have been to nationals twice, they realized what it really takes now.”
The Miners are currently training with their junior A team in preparation for the May 5 season opener against the Edmonton Outlaws at 8 p.m. at Northstar Hyundai Arena. Both teams are missing players because of school, work or travel commitments.
“I’ve got rookies and some vets and right now we’re just running with the juniors. When the season starts we should have everybody back,” Diep said. “Right now it’s a grind. Our guys are ready to go, we’re just going through the motions.”
Captain Nate Schmidt is in Idaho and is not available until next month.
Transition player Sean Reid, the league’s second highest point producer with 62 and the assist leader with 40 in 16 games last year, is in Thailand until June.
Shane Lopatynski, a second team all-star on defence at the 2010 nationals, is taking the year off to travel Europe
St. Albert Rams’ products David Marrese and Spencer Lorenz are among several Miners sorting out shift work commitments prior to the season.
Marrese is a standout netminder who completed his fourth and final season of field lacrosse with the New York-based Dominican College Chargers last year. At the 2010 nationals he stopped 184 out of 240 shots in six games for a 9.41 GAA.
Lorenz is a highly touted sixth overall 2012 north draft pick from the junior A Miners. His dad, Todd, is a member of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame and an assistant coach for the Edmonton Rush. Todd is back with the Miners, behind the bench to help mentor Diep in his first season as the team’s head coach. Diep served as Chris Stachniak’s assistant coach the last two years.
The senior B team selected nine graduating juniors in the draft, including Josh Sullivan of the Miners at No. 9, Thomas Sterparn of the junior B Edmonton Warriors at No. 12, Jordan Wolfe of the Miners at No. 18 and Matt Hansen of the junior A Edmonton Eclipse at No. 21.
“Our draft picks are really surprising us,” Diep said.
Last year the Miners finished second in league play at 12-5-1 and in the playoffs defeated the Knights in the deciding game 11-10 after blowing a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
The Miners will once again lean heavily on the scoring exploits of the Cornfield brothers. Graedon led the league with 31 goals and 66 points in 18 games and Jordan racked up 21 goals and 53 points in 18 games.
This year there is no interlocking schedule between the four junior A and six senior B teams so the Miners will play 16 games, two fewer than in 2011.
“As a team and an organization we wanted the interlock to stay because we prefer the faster game. Playing the junior As is the kind of game we want to play,” Diep said. “At the same time, playing the Outlaws and the Slash two more times in the year is going to be great lacrosse. At the end of the year it’s going to be really heated rivalries.”
