Classic confrontations close out Minto Cup’s round robin with everything still on the line
Calgary Mountaineers (Photo: GOAT Sports Photography)
Day 3 of the Minto Cup is usually a pretty important one. This year the tournament’s third day is no different.
Even with the Burlington Blaze & Coquitlam Adanacs both at 2-0 and the Edmonton Miners & Calgary Mountaineers still searching for their first win at the event (0-2 x2), as is often the case, everyone is still very much alive to varying degrees on Day 3.
In fact, with wins last night, the Blaze & Adanacs - at worst - have guaranteed themselves a spot in this year’s semifinals. Those two top-of-the-standings teams square off in a highly anticipated Minto match tonight (5pm MT). The winner secures their spot in the Cup’s best-of-three final that starts on Friday evening at Edmonton’s Bill Hunter Arena.
In Tuesday’s other critical contest, the Miners & Mounties play an all-Alberta game (8pm MT) that could see a sell out at Bill Hunter Arena (“Fill the Bill”). In addition to nailing down their first win of the tourney, the winner will also move onto to face the loser of Burlington/Coquitlam in Wednesday’s one-and-done semifinals.
Since 2003, when the Minto moved to a four-team format and away from a seven-game series between Ontario & British Columbia, no provinces have played one another more than ON & BC - shocking, we know. Tonight’s game between Burlington & Coquitlam will be 82nd time the OJLL & BCJALL have had teams go head to head during the Minto - again, since 2003. It will be the 30th time they see one another during the round robin. Few of those previous 29 games have held as much weight as the one we’ll witness tonight.
Ontario is 51-30 in all those ON vs. BC games, 20-9 in round-robin play. The OJLL rep has beat BC’s best at the Minto over the last seven games going back to the 2018 tournament. The last BC team to beat ON? Well, the same one we’ll see tonight: the Coquitlam Adanacs. In fact, their last W happened in Alberta, a victory that won the A’s the Cup that summer. No other BCJALL team comes close to Coquitlam’s win count over Ontario over the past two decades. The next most wins come courtesy of the Burnaby Lakers with seven, only three of which happened during the round robin.
We go from the most active Minto Cup rivalry to the least played one in tonight’s Battle of Alberta between Edmonton & Calgary. Since 2003, RMLL teams (all from Alberta) have played one another just four times. All of those games have taken place during the round-robin portion of the event:
2005 – Edmonton Miners 9, Okotoks Raiders 8
2008 – Calgary Mountaineers 7, Edmonton Miners 6
2011 – Okotoks Raiders 9, Edmonton Eclipse 6
2018 – Okotoks Raiders 10, Calgary Mountaineers 6
Until last year when the Miners made Minto history multiple times, the Mounties were the only RMLL club to hold wins over both Ontario (2016 Orangeville) & British Columbia (2014 Coquitlam & 2016 Delta). To get to their first Minto semifinal, however, they’ll need to overcome a loaded lineup from their own province for the first time in 15 years.
The Miners & Mounties went to a Game 5 in their best-of-five series in this year’s RMLL Finals, with the Miners winning 3-2. Although Edmonton are garnering most of the vote in The Lax Mag’s pre-game polls (77% on Twitter & 73% on Instagram in favour of the Miners at the time of posting), based on their recent history, it feels like tonight’s most important game between the two sides could go either way.
Last year was the first time in Minto history that an RMLL team made it to the semifinals, and then went on to win that semifinal too. Will the Miners have a repeat run or with the Mounties be the next club to shock Canada?