The transplanted Edmonton Miners will carry the St. Albert banner at the President’s Cup senior B lacrosse national championship, starting Monday at Burnaby, B.C.
The Miners qualified for nationals by burying the Okotoks Raiders 11-4 in the fifth and deciding game of the provincial final Sunday at Performance Arena. Nate Schmidt netted four goals and added two assists as the Miners built up period leads of 5-3 and 8-4. Kyle Schram scored three times and Richard Barnes notched a pair. Kevin Howard tallied once and picked up five assists. Graedon Cornfield also scored. The Miners struck four times on the power play and once shorthanded.
With six seconds remaining, a melee broke out and fighting majors and gross misconducts were handed out to both teams. Okotoks was also assessed match penalties.
The series started in St. Albert with the home side winning 11-9 and 9-4. The Raiders rebounded in Okotoks by scores of 11-5 and 9-5.
In the playoffs the Miners finished 6-3 after posting a first-place record of 14-4 in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League. The Raiders ranked second overall at 13-5 before going 5-4 in the playoffs.
In playoff scoring, Schmidt was the top point producer with 29, on 17 goals and 12 assists. In second place with 26 points was Cornfield, with 13 goals and 13 assists.
Cornfield (43-39-82 in 16 games) and Schmidt (48-32-80 in 17 games) ranked first and second, respectively, in the league in points during the regular season.
The Miners will now challenge the Tri-City (B.C.) Bandits, Onondaga Redhawks of the Can-Am senior B league, Kahnawake (Que.) Mohawks, Cornwall Island Redmen of the Iroquois Lacrosse Association, the Ontario reps and the host Burnaby Burrards for national honours. The tournament website is www.presidentscup2010.com
After a few seasons playing out of Servus Credit Union Place following the move from Bill Hunter Arena, the long-time Edmonton club with junior A and senior B teams in the Rocky Mountain circuit was rebranded this year as the St. Albert Miners.
Fifth place was the order of finish for a pair of Paul Kane Blues with their respective provincial teams at the Canada Basketball U17 juvenile national championships.
Kelly Fagan, a six-foot-one Grade 12 forward, played for the juvenile women in Toronto and Khalil Bertin a five-foot-11 Grade 11 guard, competed for the juvenile males in Winnipeg.
St. Albert athletes Garrett King and Morgan Walker gave it their best shot at medalling at the Legion Canadian Youth Track and Field Championships.
The Edmonton Olympic Track and Field Club members competed for Team Alberta at the Terry Fox athletic facility in Ottawa last weekend.
In the female U16 midget division, Walker finished fifth in both 100 and 200 metre section 2 finals and placed 12th in shot put in her Legion nationals debut.
Walker’s time in the 100m was 12.78 seconds after going 12.79 in the preliminary heats. In the 200m she was clocked at 26.11 after posting a qualifying time of 26.20.
The 14-year-old’s best distance on three throws in shot put was 9.96 metres.
The Grade 9 Sir George Simpson student also ran in the 4x100 and medley relays as Alberta finished fourth in both events.
The fourth and last Legion nationals for King ended with a fourth-place time of 14.65 in the U18 youth 110m hurdles. He qualified for the section 2 finals by going 14.97 in the prelims.
In the 400m the Grade 12 Paul Kane High School student was last out of eight runners in section 5 at 51.75.
King, 17, also contributed to a pair of second-place results for Alberta in the 4x100 and 4x400 relays.
