National Junior Rankings: July 6, 2023
During the 2023 Canadian junior seasons, The Lax Mag will publish our National Junior Rankings, a weekly rundown of all 23 A-level teams across the country. The opening edition will begin on June 7 with future rankings published in the middle of every week (date dependent on league schedule for that week) until the start of the Minto Cup.
The rankings will include the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League (OJLL), British Columbia Junior A Lacrosse League (BCJALL) and Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL).
The Lax Mag’s rankings will position teams based not only by overall record, but also the strength of their opposition and the quality of their results - win, lose or draw.
Since we dropped this year’s first edition of The Lax Mag National Junior Rankings, three teams have remained in the exact same spot: #1 Orangeville Northmen, #2 Coquitlam Adanacs and #23 Saskatchewan SWAT.
Over the past week, the Northmen have nailed down their 16th, 17th, and 18th wins of the season, now just two Ws shy of joining an extremely short & elite list. Like we pointed out much earlier this season, Orangeville would become just the 11th Ontario Junior A team to run the regular-season table and avoid having an L or even a T appearing next to their name in the standings. While the 1995 Northmen came close (they went 19-1, that lone loss happening in game #20), this year’s Orangeville squad would be the first in club history to achieve that incredible feat. In fact, they’d be just the fifth Junior A city/centre to end an OLA regular season with a 1.000% win percentage.
On that nearly perfect ‘95 team (they ended up winning the Minto with a 16-0 playoff record) was current Northmen Head Coach Rusty Kruger, Toronto Rock Head Coach Matt Sawyer, former Northmen HC & current Rock AC Bruce Codd, Orangeville Assistant Phil Sanderson, plus Chris, Ryan, Josh and Brandon Sanderson. The group became Northmen royalty.
In recent weeks, Orangeville had arguably their most lackluster performance of the season (still a 7-5 win over Brampton) and two extremely physical affairs against Six Nations, who were later dinged with a few significant suspensions (the Northmen won that mini-series by a combined score of 34-12). Last night Orangeville drilled Kitchener-Waterloo 21-3, leading to their most swole single-game GD of the year. With just two games left, they get Brampton on Friday night and KW on Sunday evening, both games at Tony Rose Arena.
While the Adanacs have sat in second for the first five weeks of our weekly Canada-wide rundown, British Columbia seems like it will come down to three stacked sides: Nanaimo, Victoria and of course Coquitlam. While we took a deeper look into the Shamrock’s recent moves, both the Adanacs & Timbermen made quality additions prior to their province’s trade deadline as well.
Here’s a recap of who all three BCJALL contenders picked up in recent weeks…
Coquitlam: Cody Malawsky (Langley), Stuart Phillips (Langley), Austin Ducommun (New Westminster)
Nanaimo: Finn Halladay (Port Coquitlam)
Victoria: Thomas Vela (Burnaby), Marcus Klarich (Burnaby), Silas Richmond (Delta), Hudson Jenner (Port Coquitlam), Joel McCormick (Burnaby), Ezrah Glanville (New Westminster)
Raiders Lacrosse Club vs. Calgary Mountaineers (Photo: Raiders LC)
After their 10-4 win over the Calgary Mountaineers last weekend, the Raiders Lacrosse club clinched the second overall seed in the RMLL. As was already expected weeks ago, the Raiders & Mounties will open the playoffs pitted against one another, the two teams playing in one of the most heated & intense provincial series during any league’s regular season this year.
The RMLL’s first-place Edmonton Miners, who are already in the Minto as this year’s host and should contend for a second straight summer, have added some strong talent from British Columbia as they look to better 2022’s impressive run. Last year’s Minto runners up acquired Lukas Nielsen and defender Ben Soenen from the New Westminster Salmonbellies, plus Declan Fitzpatrick from the Langley Thunder. Nielsen led the Bellies with 27 goals this year, Fitzpatricks just a few finishes shy of leading the Thunder in goals & points. Edmonton also sourced Bauer Swystun from the SWAT.
National Junior Rankings: July 6, 2023
1. (1) Orangeville Northmen (OJLL) 18-0
2. (2) Coquitlam Adanacs (BCJALL) 17-3
3. (4) Burlington Blaze (OJLL) 14-5
4. (3) Edmonton Miners (RMLL) 10-3
5. (5) Nanaimo Timbermen (BCJALL) 12-7
6. (9) Toronto Beaches (OJLL) 11-7
7. (8) Victoria Shamrocks (BCJALL) 14-6
8. (6) Oakville Buzz (OJLL) 12-6
9. (7) Mimico Mountaineers (OJLL) 10-7
10. (11) Raiders Lacrosse Club (RMLL) 9-5
11. (10) Calgary Mountaineers (RMLL) 7-6-1
12. (14) Whitby Warriors (OJLL) 8-11
13. (17) Brampton Excelsiors (OJLL) 7-11
14. (15) St. Catharines Athletics (OJLL) 8-12
15. (13) Port Coquitlam Saints (BCJALL) 9-10
16. (12) Six Nations Arrows (OJLL) 6-11
17. (16) Burnaby Lakers (BCJALL) 8-11
18. (20) New Westminster Salmonbellies (BCJALL) 6-13
19. (21) Delta Islanders (BCJALL) 6-14
20. (19) Peterborough Lakers (OJLL) 4-14
21. (22) Kitchener-Waterloo Lacrosse Club (OJLL) 2-16
22. (18) Langley Thunder (BCJALL) 5-13
23. (23) Saskatchewan SWAT 0-12-1