The 25th win in a row was golden for the St. Albert Miners. The senior B lacrosse team celebrated an undefeated season as the Presidents' Cup national champions in Saturday's final at the Leduc Recreation Centre.
The 25th win in a row was golden for the St. Albert Miners.
The senior B lacrosse team celebrated an undefeated season as the Presidents' Cup national champions in Saturday's final at the Leduc Recreation Centre.
The tournament hosts fired eight consecutive goals before the Kahnawake Mohawks of the Quebec Senior League replied with 15:26 left in the second period, but by then the deficit was too big to overcome.
Euphoria spilled onto the floor when the game ended as the jubilate Miners celebrated their 12-7 triumph in style.
“It's a great feeling seeing and sharing the moment with all that was part of this. It's amazing,” said Vay Diep, head coach of the 25-0-1 Miners, while summing up the team's run of greatness.
“This year's team was built back in January. We had 30-plus players working hard every floor session and the tone was set then. The players pushed each other and the result was a national championship caliber team.”
The Miners put a plan in place to win gold after their bronze-medal result two years ago to finish 27-3 and all three losses were at nationals in Coquitlam, B.C.
“We learned quite a bit from the 2014 experience, the players, coaches and the organization. Once we came up with a blueprint it was then applied,” said Diep of the Miners' preparation for their fourth appearance at nationals since 2010 as the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League provincial champions.
Ironically, the Miners beat Kahnawake Mohawks 7-5 for bronze and with gold on the line this year they capitalized on the chance of a lifetime.
“It came down to the players. They poured their hearts out on that floor in front of a sold-out arena that included their family, friends, alumni and fans,” Diep said.
After the sterling renditions of the Haudenosaunee and Canadian national anthems, the second shot of the final by the Miners was the first of five goals by Richard Lachlan at the 1:27 mark.
Lachlan, who joined the Miners this year from the senior A New Westminster Salmonbellies in the Western Lacrosse Association, finished the match with six points as the team's player of the game.
Lachlan's second goal, a power-play effort, was followed by Darren Kinnear's tally and a pair by Keegan Bal before the period ended.
Lachlan, Graedon Cornfield and Bal found the back of the net in the opening 3:11 of the middle frame, forcing Kahnawake to switch netminders.
Kahnawake responded with a five-goal scoring spree and the last two were scored shorthanded and unassisted before Dean Fairall replied for the Miners at 18:35 and 28 seconds after the Mohawks pulled to within three of the leaders.
Lachlan buried two more in the first minute of the third and Matt Andruchow's unassisted effort at 16:53 to make it 12-6 got the party started.
Dave Marrese was his usual consistent self in net to go 5-0 at nationals with a tournament-leading 5.33 GAA as the second team all-star selection. He was the second-team all-star netminder at the 2014 nationals.
Bal added three assists to his hat-trick performance for a tournament-high 24 assists and 36 points. The first-team all-star was named the MVP at nationals.
The Coquitlam, B.C. product hooked up with the Miners after completing his rookie season with the Vancouver Stealth in the National Lacrosse League. He was originally selected in the third round, 25th overall, in the 2013 NLL entry draft by the Toronto Rock. He led all scorers in the RMLL regular season with 70 points, including 26 goals in 13 games.
Lachlan scored a league-high 36 goals and ranked fourth in points with 62 in 15 games and at nationals placed third in the scoring race with 27 points on the strength of 15 goals.
Bal also carried the torch offensively in the best-of-three RMLL provincial final against the Calgary Mountaineers with nine goals and 16 points in two games as the Miners won their first provincial title since 2014 and the fourth in seven years.
Cornfield and Kinnear recorded four points apiece against Kahnawake.
Cornfield was fourth in scoring at nationals with 26 points, plus 12 goals, as a second-team all-star selection.
Kinnear ranked sixth at nationals in points with 20 while picking up 14 assists.
Ryan Dilks, who was brought on board from the NLL champion Saskatchewan Rush for nationals, also earned first-team all-star honours on defence.
Fairall was fifth in team scoring at nationals with 11 points as the RMLL's top playoff point producer with 24 points, including 10 goals in five games.
The Miners marched into the final with victories of 10-8 against the Mountaineers (1-3), 24-2 against the Saskatoon Brewers (0-3) and 5-3 against the Brooklin Merchants (4-2 as bronze medallists) of Ontario in pool play and in the semifinals downed the Nation Suns (3-2 as fourth-place finishers) of the Can/Am Lacrosse League 14-5.
Diep described the Presidents' Cup as a grueling tournament.
“Every game could make or break your season,” he said. “In our first game we didn't play up to our potential against the Mountaineers. In game two against Saskatoon the coaching staff made the decision to adjust the lineup so we can get the team back on track. I would say this game was the beginning of the TSN turning point. It provided our offence to get back on track, same as for the defence. In game three we used our depth in our roster to make an adjustment against Brooklin. It was a hard-fought physical game and that gave our defence more confidence. In the semifinal game against the Native Sons, our speed transition and defence and offence were now in mid-stride.”
Diep heaped praise on the volunteers, organizing committee, the City of Leduc, sponsors, the Mines' executive board of directors, alumni and the players for transforming the Presidents' Cup a “first-class national event.”
Leduc was the host site for nationals because Go Auto Arena, the home for the senior B and junior A Miners, was unavailable due to the installation of ice in the rink before the Aug. 28 start of the tournament.
“It truly took a team effort to be crowned the 2016 senior B Canadian Lacrosse Association national champions,” Diep said.
