National Junior Rankings: Week 3
During the 2022 Canadian junior seasons, The Lax Mag will publish our National Junior Rankings, a weekly rundown of all 23 A-level teams across the country. Week 1 will begin on June 1 with future editions published every Wednesday until all leagues have started their playoffs.
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 or lose.
After a 3-0 week with wins over the Toronto Beaches (14-12), Six Nations Arrows (21-4), and the Orangeville Northmen last night (12-7), the Mimico Mountaineers maintain their squeaky clean start to the 2022 season (9-0) and remain ranked #1 in The Lax Mag’s National Junior Rankings.
Their one-goal win over the the Beaches in Game 1 of their in-season Crombie Cup, a trophy named after Greg Crombie who was instrumental in the establishment of both the Mountaineers and Beaches Junior clubs, was one of their tougher tests of the season. The Mounties pulled away in the third with two goals each from Carson Moyer (Utah) and Justin Lee (Albany) in the 14-12W.
Between a huge effort against Mimico and notable wins over Orangeville (9-7) and the previously streaking Peterborough Lakers (11-10), the Beaches get bumped up in the rankings, sitting just outside of our Top 5. Sam Firth, who Toronto took 3rd overall in the 2021 OJLL Entry Draft, has had a tremendous start to the season, his goals (26), assists (27) and point (53) totals all currently Top 5 in the province.
The team has also got steady shot stopping from Will Johnston. “Will is our guy. We can’t say enough good about him,” Toronto Head Coach Reilly O’Connor (Albany FireWolves) told The Peterborough Examiner after last week’s win. “He’s the backbone of the team; he has been all year. We put a lot of faith, trust and confidence in him and he’s delivered.”
Mimico’s Finlay Thompson (Michigan), Johnathan Peshko (Johns Hopkins), Justin Sykes (Hofstra) and the previously mentioned Moyer all sit within the OJLL’s Top 10 point producers.
The TO-based teams’ second of two regular season meetings takes place on June 24th at Mimico Arena (7pm ET).
Patrick Dodds, Panther City Lacrosse Club (Photo: Jaclyn McKee)
A huge game on the island last night that impacted today’s final placements in our Canada-wide weekly countdown, with the Victoria Shamrocks topping the Nanaimo Timbermen, who last week rocketed up the rankings after some really strong results of their own, 14-11.
Although NLL All-Rookie Team lock, Patrick Dodds (Panther City), has been incredible for Victoria, so has Adam Bland (Calgary Roughnecks) between the pipes, his save percentage (.824) second best in BC and his GAA (7.86) third in the league. The team also recently got Noah Manning (Denver) on their roster, his 13 goals in just three games one of the strongest per-game-goal totals anywhere in Canada so far. Ditto for DU teammate Casey Wilson (Denver), who’s had a pair of hat tricks in his first two games of the summer, including in last night’s W over the talented Timbermen. Dodds and Shamrocks forward Denton Macdonald (Bellarmine) sit first & second in league point production, also easily leading the province in assists together too.
The Shamrocks (and Coquitlam Adanacs) were the last BCJALL team to represent the province at the Minto Cup back in 2019, the four-team tourney put on pause due to pandemic-related restrictions over the past two summers. The OJLL announced yesterday that 2022’s Minto would be hosted at the CAA Centre in Brampton, Ontario. Victoria finished second to Orangeville in 2019.
Victoria Shamrocks, 2019 Minto Cup, Langley, BC (Photo: BCJALL)
While the Calgary Mountaineers continue to be our highest ranked RMLL side, the St. Albert Miners continue to climb the charts after beating up on Saskatchewan three times since we last checked in. The Miners are also the only RMLL side to beat the Mounties this season. Leading the team in points and the RMLL in goals is Jacob Bowen (Queens), Miners teammates Jack Royer (Queens) & Marcus Needham (Embry-Riddle) also two top talents in the league’s Top 10.
And finally, this coming Saturday at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre, the Oakville Buzz & Burlington Chiefs will meet for the second time in 2022. The rivals will play in the middle of the Rob MacDougall Memorial Lacrosse Day & Celebrity Classic. The event was established to honour MacDougall, a local lacrosse legend whose coaching, creativity and kindness will forever be felt far and wide. MacDougall, who left us in October of last year, coached many players in the region who’ve since gone on to prominent junior, collegiate and NLL careers. He also coached Toronto Maple Leafs’ forward, John Tavares, who event organizers announced will be at the TRAC on Saturday. The tournament is raising funds in support of Kids Sport Ontario in MacDougall’s memory. Follow @macdougall.lax.classic on Instagram for more info.
Similar to the Crombie Cup, the Buzz & Chiefs will continue to compete for the Rob MacDougall Cup this Saturday. Oakville took Game 1 of this meaningful miniseries, 10-9.
National Junior Rankings: Week 3
1. (1) Mimico Mountaineers (OJLL) 9-0
2. (6) Victoria Shamrocks (BCJALL) 7-2
3. (2) Nanaimo Timbermen (BCJALL) 6-3
4. (5) Oakville Buzz (OJLL) 8-3
5. (3) Coquitlam Adanacs (BCJALL) 4-3
6. (4) Langley Thunder (BCJALL) 5-2
7. (8) Toronto Beaches (OJLL) 7-4
8. (9) St. Catharines Athletics (OJLL) 7-3
9. (10) Whitby Warriors (OJLL) 7-4
10. (11) Calgary Mountaineers (RMLL) 7-1
11. (7) Orangeville Northmen (OJLL) 4-5
12. (13) St. Albert Miners (RMLL) 7-2
13. (12) Peterborough Lakers (OJLL) 5-5
14. (14) Burlington Chiefs (OJLL) 3-6
15. (15) Burnaby Lakers (BCJALL) 4-4
16. (17) Six Nations Arrows (OJLL) 2-7
17. (16) New Westminster Salmonbellies (BCJALL) 2-6
18. (18) Delta Islanders (BCJALL) 3-5
19. (22) Brampton Excelsiors (OJLL) 1-6
20. (19) Okotoks Raiders (RMLL) 3-5
21. (20) Port Coquitlam Saints (BCJALL) 1-7
22. (21) K-W Lacrosse Club (OJLL) 0-10
23. (23) Saskatchewan SWAT (RMLL) 1-10
Note: The June 10th result between St. Albert vs. Saskatchewan (17-9) that is not posted on RMLL website is reflected in the above records, confirmed via @SaskSWAT on Twitter.