A look at every semi-final match ever held at the Minto Cup
Photo: Dave Fryer
Tonight, the Toronto Beaches & Miners Lacrosse Club will meet in the Minto Cup’s semi-final match (CAA Centre, Brampton, 8pm ET) to determine who’ll challenge the Whitby Warriors in the tournament’s final.
Since 2003, the year the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League officially gained entry into Canada’s Junior A showcase, there have been 15 of these single-game elimination semifinals.
Rarely has the winner of this game gone on to win the Minto Cup. It has happened though, but only four times.
The 2005 Burnaby Lakers, the 2007 Six Nations Arrows, the 2011 Whitby Warriors and 2018 Coquitlam Adanacs are the only teams to win their semi-final game and then also claim the Minto Cup. In all other cases, the tournament’s #1 seeded squad, so this year that would obviously be the Warriors, took the title.
Photo: Dave Fryer
During what has likely been the closest round round at the Minto ever, can either the Beaches or Miners further flip the script in 2022 and win three more games to garner glory?
As pointed out last night soon after the Miners bumped the Victoria Shamrocks out of Brampton, today will be just the third time an RMLL club has made the semifinals during a year the Minto was held in either Ontario or British Columbia. By default, an Alberta-based team has made the second stage of the Minto Cup in any season they’ve hosted because, well, half the teams were from either the Calgary or Edmonton region.
Last night’s win by the Miners was also only fourth round-robin victory for an RMLL team outside of their league. The Miners became just the third Alberta-based team to accomplish that feat, a first for the club too.
The Beaches will become just the sixth OJLL side to appear in the one-and-done game, the Orangeville Northmen, Six Nations Arrows, Brampton Excelsiors, Whitby Warriors and Mimico Mountaineers the only previous Ontario-based clubs to compete in the Minto’s semifinals.
How has each league done in these semi-final matchups going back to 2003?
OJLL: 6-4
BCJALL: 9-5
RMLL: 0-6
Tonight’s pivotal playoff will be just the second time Ontario & Alberta have met in this match: Whitby vs. Okotoks in 2011 and Orangeville vs. Calgary in 2016. Needless to say, a Miners win today would be a first for the league, which might be fitting based on the barriers Albertans are making in the NLL in both a playing & coaching capacity.
Below, check out every Minto Cup semi-final match ever played, plus how that SF winner fared in the final.
2003
Burnaby vs. Orangeville (Burnaby win 7-6)
Lost final to St. Catharines (1-2)
2004
Victoria vs. Six Nations (Victoria win 10-9, OT)
Lost final to Burnaby (0-2)
2005
Burnaby vs. Edmonton (Burnaby win 9-8)
Win final over Six Nations (2-1)
2006
Six Nations vs. Burnaby (Six Nations win 8-3)
Lost final to Peterborough (0-1)
2007
Six Nations vs. New Westminster (Six Nations win 6-5)
Win final over Burnaby (1-0)
2008
Victoria vs. Calgary (Victoria win 7-4)
Lost final to Orangeville (0-1)
2009
Brampton vs. Coquitlam (Brampton win 12-6)
Lost final to Orangeville (1-2)
2010
New Westminster vs. Orangeville (Orangeville win 6-4)
Lost final to Coquitlam (1-2)
2011
Whitby vs. Okotoks (Whitby win 8-4)
Win final over Coquitlam (2-1)
2012
Coquitlam vs. Whitby (Coquitlam wins 15-11)
Lost final to Orangeville (0-2)
2013
Coquitlam vs. New Westminster (New Westminster win 11-7)
Lost final to Whitby (1-3)
2014-15
In place of the four-team round-robin format, a Western Final took place between the BCJALL and RMLL to determine the Minto Cup finalist vs. the OJLL champion.
2016
Orangeville vs. Calgary (Orangeville win 12-7)
Lost final to Coquitlam (2-3)
2017
Mimico vs. Coquitlam (Coquitlam win 10-4)
Lost final to Six Nations (0-3)
2018
Coquitlam vs. Okotoks (Coquitlam win 11-5)
Win final over Brampton (3-1)
2019
Victoria vs. Okotoks (Victoria win 12-8)
Lost final to Orangeville (0-3)
2020-21
Not held due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2022
Toronto vs. Miners
Winner vs. Whitby