Chiefs Playoff Spot Out Of Reach
And It Shows
By Jon Kuiperij: Burlington Post Wednesday June 25, 2003 PORT BURLINGTON -- With reaching the playoffs no longer a possibility, the Burlington Junior A Chiefs are now -- or should be -- playing for jobs next season. The lacrosse club was officially eliminated from post-season participation with an 8-4 loss to Orangeville last Wednesday. The Chiefs fell 12-4 in Toronto the following night and lost 15-3 at home to Peterborough Monday. Burlington coach and general manager Jeff Dowling, who will relinquish both posts at the end of the season, said his players have to finish the season with effort and pride. "The guys are playing like there's no reason to play, but they're playing for jobs next year," Dowling said. "Some of them could be in for a rude awakening (at next year's tryouts)." INTEREST IN COACHING JOB Dowling noted co-coach and assistant general manager Pete Bowers, who will assume the GM position next season, is watching the Chiefs from the bench, while potential coaches for next year are also watching from the stands. "The people we've talked to (about the coaching position) have all had interest," said Dowling, adding he has spoken to four candidates and plans to talk to several more. "Junior "A" is a good place for a coach who wants to make it to the pro level, or for a pro coach who wants to coach during the summer." Monday's loss to Peterborough saw Chiefs' leading scorer David Lomas assessed a double-minor and game misconduct ten seconds into the contest. The Lakers capitalized, scoring two power play markers before the game was a minute old. "The guys just started to give up, and it's very difficult - as a coaching staff we feel the same thing, here we go again," Dowling said. "Right now there isn't a real good leader and there's only so much a coach can do. We need a couple players to step up." BROWNLEE OFF TO K-W Burlington's loss was Lakers netminder Ryan Avery's gain. Avery, recently dealt to Peterborough, picked up his first win of the season after going winless in 14 starts with the Chiefs. Burlington also traded Jeff Brownlee (five goals, seven assists in eight games) to Kitchener for Mike Sepiech. A recent positive for the Chiefs was seeing their affiliate, the Oakville Buzz, qualify for the Junior "B" playoffs for the first time in its three-year existence. "We had a number of guys play for both teams, and we screwed up our own team this year (by doing it)," Dowling said. "But Oakville made it, and they can make a run. They have a good shot. There's definitely some satisfaction in that."

Steve Toll Signs With Redmen
Tuesday June 24, 2003 WHITBY -- The Brooklin Redmen are pleased to announce that #17 Steve Toll has signed with the team for the 2003 season. In 14 games with the Redmen in 2002, he scored 12 goals, 23 assists for a total of 35 points. Toll is coming off an NLL Championship season with the Toronto Rock this year and was part of the gold medal winning Team Canada at the inaugural World Indoor Lacrosse Championships in May. Steve has also been patrolling the bench with the Junior "A" Whitby Warriors this season as an assistant coach. The Redmen offense is sure to benefit from his speed in the transition game. Contact: Mark Stehlin 416.750.3590

Athletics Add Punch To Lineup Draft Picks Sent To Orillia To Land Proven Offensive Perfomer Luke Wiles
By Bill Potrecz: St.Catharines Standard Tuesday June 24, 2003 PORT DALHOUSIE -- St.Catharines Athletics have added another piece to their puzzle in an attempt to win a second Canadian lacrosse championship in three years. It took months to complete, but A’s general manager and head coach Bob Luey finally landed Luke Wiles, sending picks in the first and second rounds of next year’s draft to the Orillia Kings for the highly touted sniper. “We’re pleased; we’ve worked on this all year,” Luey said. The addition of Wiles, a feared offensive force who tied for the league lead with 81 points last season, should help the A’s offence that has sputtered at times this season. “When you have so many guys who can score, the other team can’t key on one guy,” Luey said. “The ball moves a lot freer. We’re pretty happy.” Luey said he called a team meeting late last week to see how the club would react to bringing in Wiles. “They were all for it, absolutely 100 per cent” Luey said. It didn’t take long for Wiles to make his presence felt, firing five goals and adding three assists in his A’s regular season debut Sunday in an 13-5 win over Six Nations. Wiles played Saturday for Luey and the A’s coaching staff at the league all-star game, helping them to a 27-18 win. Mark Paniccia, Kyle Neufeld, Rory Glaves and Pat Russell also suited up. Goaltender Matt Vinc was unable to attend and young backup Dan Sams took his place. “Dan was outstanding,” Luey said. “It was a huge confidence builder for him. He stopped 12 breakaways in the third period and that’s unheard of. “I had the other coaches coming up to me and saying you’ve got another one coming up.” The addition of Wiles couldn’t have come at a better time for the A’s. Paniccia suffered a possible broken finger in the all-star game while Craig Conn has been suspended for seven games by the OLA for his part in a brawl in Brampton earlier this season. Conn, who is in Baltimore with Matt Hajek and Ian Llord playing for Canada at the world under-19 field lacrosse championships, is eligible to return for the first round of the playoffs. “We expect him to be back healthy and with a better attitude,” Luey said. Conn has played in four games for the A’s this season scoring five points, but has been ejected from three of them. Couple that with a bothersome shoulder injury that has lingered since the hockey season, and it’s been a difficult time for Conn. But Luey appeared confident that when Conn does return, he’ll be ready to contribute. “Don (assistant each Don Smith) talked to Craig quite a bit,” Luey said. “Craig is a playoff player and everything points to him coming back and leading us through the playoffs.” The A’s have also added former Onedaga junior B player Chris Benedict who had a goal and an assist in his debut Sunday. St.Catharines, who lead the standings with a 14-1-1 mark, are in Peterborough tonight. They played host to Orillia Wednesday at Bill Burgoyne Arena at 8:30 p.m.

Devils Hot Start A Distant Memory
By Morris Dalla Costa: London Free Press Monday June 23, 2003 LONDON -- It wasn't quite the fairy tale ending any of them imagined. It was sort of like watching Dorothy melting and Toto going to the pound; like Snow White snoozing through the kiss, Cinderella with a size 12 foot or Pinocchio being part of a good old fashioned bonfire. You get the picture. The London Blue Devils of the Ontario Lacrosse Association junior B league lived the fairy tale-turned-nightmare this season. The expansion team started the season with two wins and a loss and the season looked rosy. For all intents and purposes the team finished the season yesterday with a 13-8 loss to the Windsor AKO Fratmen. It was their 16th loss of the season against three wins. As difficult as it was to believe, the Blue Devils still had a chance to make the playoffs. They were chasing the Fratmen, who only had four wins and a tie. Beat the Fratmen and they would still have needed at least a tie against the powerhouse Sarnia Pacers Wednesday. Now that game means nothing and the Fratmen join the Pacers in the playoffs. The Blue Devils are the first junior lacrosse team at any level in London. They found out quickly how difficult getting established really can be. "No kidding it was harder than expected," Blue Devils president Brian Laporte said. "We weren't as deep as other teams and it was a larger learning curve, not only for the players but the coaches and management as well. We always seemed to be reinventing the wheel. "And when you lose as many games as we did, it's tough to keep the players up. Then some players get frustrated and want to do it all themselves. It's like a dog chasing its tail." Yesterday's game was a snapshot of how the Blue Devils season has gone. They played solidly in the first period and early in the second, taking a 3-1 lead. With less than 10-minutes left in the third period, they were trailing 10-4. The Blue Devils managed to pull it back to 10-8, in large part by pulling their goalie to get an extra attacker on the floor whenever they got the ball. But a couple of turnovers allowed Windsor to score into an empty net and it was game over. David Rivait led the Fratmen with three goals, with Rob Tellier and John Montague scoring two each. Singles went to Nick Zdonek, Tony Chartrand, Jamie Pillon, Karontose Jacobs, Kohe Diabo and David Hodgins. Josh Brown had a pair of goals for the Blue Devils with singles to Herbie John, Chris Hollister, Brent Yost, Graham Marshall, Mike Bonk, Aaron Yost and Sean Earnshaw. Head coach Reg Gordon who said before the season he would be horribly disappointed if his team didn't finish at .500, was more than horribly disappointed. He talked about injuries his team suffered and the lack of depth. But he was more disturbed about what he perceived to be a "lack of commitment with a capital C." "There's about 12 guys who if you called practice at two in the morning in Timbuktu, they would find a way to be there," said Gordon. "But not enough of the others were committed to practices and games. We didn't have enough discipline. We thought we'd gotten the retaliation stuff behind us and then certain guys would do it again. "When we selected the team at the start of the year, we thought we had a team that would take us to the playoffs. But we learned a lot of things. We learned how to select a team, how to get a team off the ground. It was lots of work. Unfortunately, everything we learned, we learned the hard way." While the ultimate goal was to be a lot better than this team wound up being, there is hope for the future. The Blue Devils were forced to use many young players, so they will be better prepared for next season. The team executive remained strong and committed, and throughout the nightmarish run the fans kept coming out to watch. Maybe next year there'll be a happy ending.

How The West Was Won
By ROBIN INSCOE: Brampton Guardian Sunday June 22, 2003 BRAMPTON -- The Brampton Excelsiors had always hoped that native son Jim Veltmen would decide that he wanted one more shot at winning the Mann Cup - emblematic of Canadian senior lacrosse supremacy. The defending Canadian champions probably envisioned the captain of Canada's gold medal-winning World Indoor Championship team running the floor with the likes of Bob Watson, Colin Doyle and Josh Sanderson. Well, they might get their wish. In a round about away. Veltman, one of Canada's premier players and a native Bramptonian, has decided that he will give it one more shot- but with the dreaded Victoria Shamrocks. That means that if there is a rematch of last year's national championship, the man the call 'Scoop' for his uncanny ability to pick up loose balls, will be wearing the green and white of the Shamrocks if they host the Mann Cup final. "It was a window of opportunity I couldn't refuse," admitted Veltman as he took in Thursday's game between the Excelsiors and St. Catharines Athletics with his dad. "It had to be a fit for the whole family," added Veltman, who will take his wife and children with him for a two month vacation- and to play a little lacrosse. A school teacher in Scarborough, Veltman looked at the chance to see an area of the country he has only had an opportunity to visit in short stints. This time he'll be taking it all in. Veltman admitted he didn't have any designs on returning to the summer game after leading the Toronto Rock to their third National Lacrosse League crown in four years but that changed a little at the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships. John Tavares, a fellow teacher in Mississauga, asked Veltman what it would take to get him to go west and join Tavares and the Shamrocks. "I told him 'a nanny'," smiled Veltman. A week later the Shamrocks called and the rest, as they say, is history. The Shamrocks will put Veltman up and provide a nanny to help with the family so the entire clan can enjoy their 'vacation'. And that was good enough for the Rock captain. He'll leave on July 14 and is hoping to return around mid-September-- after the Mann Cup. But it's going to be a struggle. The 2001 Mann Cup champs from Coquitlam are favoured in the West and pose a big obstacle for Veltman and his new teammates. One piece of advice for Jim. He still wears an old Brampton Excelsiors shirt under his uniform when he plays, but he'd best not when in the presence of the Shamrocks. Remember, it was Brampton that ended Victoria's Mann Cup dream with a come-from-behind seventh game win in the finals last year.

Lakers Want You In The Guinness Toss The Ball - No Bull :-)
Saturday June 21, 2003 PETERBOROUGH -- The Peterborough Office Bar and Restaurant Lakers are spearheading an assault on the Guinness Book of World Records. The Guinness Publishers gave the Lakers the "go ahead", for a first time entry - the world's longest throw of a lacrosse ball. The Challenge will take place at Morrow Park on July 12th, between the hours of 1:00 PM and 5:00 PM. There will be awards presented for the best female distance toss, the leading team distance throw, and the top youth throw. The overall winner will have their names engraved on a special trophy and advanced to the Guinness Book of World Records. Each participant will receive a special certificate marking their participation in the event. Applications are available at Play it Again Sports, Hobeys Sports Limited, at Lakers games, and on the laker website www.ptbolakerlacrosse.net

Rock Pluck Brothers From Storm In Trade
By Al Rivett: durham.com Saturday June 21, 2003 DURHAM -- The Ajax-Pickering Rock pulled the trigger on a trade that promises to deliver more scoring punch. The Ontario Lacrosse Association Sr. "B" squad receives brothers Nick and Doug Trudeau from the St. Clair Storm in a cash deal. The transaction was consummated Monday night. The Trudeaus, from Windsor, have lacrosse roots in Durham Region, with Nick having played for the Mann Cup champion Brooklin Redmen at the Major Series level and Doug having played for the Founders Cup champion junior "B" Clarington Green Gaels. Nick played professionally last season as a member of the National Lacrosse League's Albany Attack. Rock general manager and head coach Paul St. John said the deal will have the net effect of making Ajax-Pickering a legitimate contender for the President's Cup, emblematic of Senior "B" lacrosse supremacy. "We feel that we now have the roster that can compete for it all. I told the players (of the deal) at practice Wednesday and they were excited," said St. John, who noted the first-place Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks were also in the hunt for the Trudeau brothers. "Our defence has been outstanding and our goaltending has been second to none, but we need offence. We need to get our goals up to 10 or 10-plus a game. We feel that if we do that we should win the bulk of our games." And, the Trudeaus definitely know how to score. Nick Trudeau is currently tied for second in league scoring with 21 goals and 20 assists. Meanwhile, Doug was second in team scoring for St. Clair with 15 goals and 13 assists in 10 games. St. John said Nick Trudeau's only concern with coming to Ajax-Pickering was if the team was good enough to win. Currently, the St. Clair Storm (1-11, last in league standings) is out of the playoff picture, with the Rock currently in fourth place (6-4-0). After giving Trudeau assurances about the competitiveness of the team, the deal was done. St. John said he was confident in telling him the Rock would be contending for the league title this year. "Both of them realize that St. Clair might not make the playoffs. Both Nick and Doug want to have a chance to play for the Canadian title. I honestly feel we have a really good shot at winning the President's Cup this year," he said. With the July 1 trade deadline looming, after which time all rosters are to be frozen, St. John said he still has at least one iron in the fire and hopes to make another deal prior to the deadline. He expects the Trudeaus to be the Rock lineup when they host the Kodiaks at the Pickering Recreation Complex Saturday night at 7 p.m. On Sunday, the Rock is in Arthur to face the Aces at 7:30 p.m. PEBBLES: Not so fast on the deal to bring local lacrosse player Niall Maynard into the Rock fold. Apparently, the Rock are in a tussle with the Brooklin Merchants for Maynard's service after he was released by the senior 'A' Peterborough Lakers before the start of their season. The league, said St. John, has intervened to resolve the situation. He still, however, believes Maynard will land with the Rock. "We do hope to have him signed sooner rather than later. But, it's up in the air right now."

Sr."B" Chiefs Struggle Offensively
From Burlington Post Friday June 20, 2003 PORT BURLINGTON -- A lack of finish continues to plague Burlington's Senior "B" lacrosse club. The Chiefs fell to 3-4-1 on the campaign with a 11-10 loss to Mohawk last week in Burlington, a game Chiefs coach and general manager Glen Flippance called a missed opportunity. "It was a game we should have won," he said. "We didn't play offensively or shoot as well as we could." A sputtering offence continues to hamper the Burlington squad as it attempts to climb up the Ontario Lacrosse Association standings. The Chiefs have scored the third least amount of goals in the league this season, ahead of Ajax-Pickering and the awful Ennismore Shamrocks. Flippance has been happy with the offensive play of Ryan Shaw (17 goals, 15 assists in eight games) and Andrew Hartholt (nine goals, eight assists in six contests) but is looking for improved production from several other Chiefs. Injuries have played a factor as Keith Welner will likely miss the entire season with a separated shoulder. Ryan Flippance, third in team scoring this season, broke his toe in four places recently and will be out 4-to-6 weeks. As of last night, Burlington sat seventh in league standings but held at least two games in hand on every other club in the loop. The 4-6 Arthur Aces were only one point ahead of the Chiefs for fifth place, a spot Glen Flippance covets. "That's what we're aiming for," the coach said, agreeing it would be ideal for his club to avoid the likes of Kitchener-Waterloo (11-0-1), Brooklin (9-3) and Owen Sound (8-2) in the first round of the playoffs. The Chiefs will host Owen Sound tomorrow (Saturday) at Central Arena at 7:30 p.m. The club also is tentatively scheduled to visit the Aces Tuesday, June 24, a make-up contest for a game postponed in Arthur last Friday because of poor playing conditions.

Jr. Excels Battling For Post-Season Birth
From Brampton Guardian Friday June 20, 2003 BRAMPTON -- The Brampton Junior A Excelsiors have some work to do in the final five games of the Ontario Lacrosse Association season if they want to be around for the playoffs. The Excelsiors, who are winless in its past three outings, just sit one point out of the eighth and final playoff berth. But there's good news too. The Excelsiors have five games remaining, including four with the bottom three clubs in the league. And the other outing is against Peterborough, who is currently tied with them in the standings. The Excelsiors picked up a little ground on their playoff rivals on Tuesday evening as they played to a 10-10 with the Whitby Warriors. The win allowed the Warriors to maintain their place in the standing just one point ahead of the Brampton squad and opens up a two point bulge between the Excelsiors and the ninth-place Six Nations squad. The Excelsiors spread the scoring around in the tie with Whitby, getting two goals each from Jeff Souliere, Colin Holbrough and Andy Secore. Mike Carnegie, Francis Dostie, Luke Forget and Jamie Lincoln chipped in with singles. Lincoln also added three helpers while Holbrough, Dostie and Ryan Campbell set up two each. It looked as if the Excelsiors had this game won in the final minute when Secore netted his second of the night, but the Warriors responded with just eight seconds remaining to force overtime. Neither team could bulge the twine in the extra frame. The Excelsiors play a home-and-home with Orillia this weekend, hosting the 10th place squad tonight at Memorial Arena beginning at 8 p.m. The Excels make the trip north for a Sunday evening clash.

Buzz Playoff Hopes Rest On Final Weekend Games
Neil Becker: Oakville Beaver Friday June 20, 2003 OAKVILLE -- After the Oakville Buzz 12-8 loss to Milton Mavericks last Friday, Oakville coach Derek Forbes put it bluntly. "We have to win two out of the remaining three games. If we don't make the playoffs then we have nobody to blame but ourselves." His troops must have been listening as they promptly went out, two days later, on Sunday, and defeated Onondaga 8-4. That sets up an interesting weekend as the Buzz close out their final two regular season Junior B games -- in Milton Saturday night and at home Sunday against Huntsville at Maplegrove Arena, please note the 6 p.m. starting time. The playoff picture is kind of complicated, because the Buzz are most likely after a wildcard spot, but the gist is this: The Buzz are likely to get in by winning one of the two, but will definitely get in by winning both games. In the 12-8 loss to Milton, Oakville opened the scoring but then spent the rest of the game playing catch-up. In fact, they were successful in erasing deficits of 3-1 and 6-3 to go into the intermissions deadlocked at 3-3 and 6-6, respectively. But when they fell behind 10-6 in the third period, their final comeback attempt stalled at 10-8 with Milton scoring two more to end the game. Playing without one of their true leaders in Jeff Brownlee who was called up by the affiliated Junior A Burlington Chiefs team, the Buzz got a pair of goals each from Chris Warren and veteran Joel Leveille. Single markers were added by Mike Knight, Stephan LeBlanc, captain Reid Westmacott and Dave Brock. "They (Milton) are totally out of it (the playoffs), but we might have underestimated Milton," said Leveille. "It was a golden opportunity but we just couldn't catch passes and we might have been a little on edge." They will get another chance at them Saturday night.

West Coast Teams Drain Stars From Ontario League
By NEIL STEVENS: Canadian Press Friday June 20, 2003 (CP) - Jim Veltman is about to join John Tavares in the star-studded lineup of the Victoria Shamrocks as the Western Lacrosse Association powerhouse bolsters itself for a run at the Mann Cup. Kaleb Toth, Tyson Leies, Derek Malawsky and Matt Roik are some of the other pros from the winter National Lacrosse League who have pulled on Shamrocks green for a summer in the amateur WLA to keep in shape and to enjoy some West Coast scenery. Not to be outdone, the Coquitlam Adanacs recruited John Grant Jr. and Tracey Kelusky to provide firepower in front of hardrock defencemen Pat Coyle and Pat Merrill. The westward stream of big-name players has grown into a rushing river this year, and it's hurting Ontario Lacrosse Association teams at the gate. "We spend thousands of dollars developing players and they just come in and take them," says OLA executive director Stan Cockerton. "It's always a struggle." It's a lot tougher for the Peterborough senior club to sell tickets when fans in the Lift Lock City know home-grown talents Grant and Kelusky are out in Coquitlam and not running up and down the floor of the Memorial Centre. The competition for players has been going on for decades, and sometimes west-to-east movement is the prevalent trend. Either way, it can be a can of worms. The Canadian Lacrosse Association, the national governing body, has a transfer policy that demands a team have a signed release from a player's previous team before he can suit up for the team he's moving to. But, every year it seems, there are disputes. At a CLA meeting in Quebec City last weekend, a special committee was struck to investigate why four men were playing for new teams without releases from their previous clubs. Two WLA clubs were fined $750 each and another $500 and the OLA's Brampton Excelsiors were fined $250 for using Toronto Rock NLL star Colin Doyle without a release. The Excelsiors now have the release after haggling with Coquitlam. The CLA head office in Ottawa was unable to name the other teams that were fined. Victoria and Coquitlam owners have deep enough pockets to annually offer some of the best players in the country good enough terms to lure them West. Clubs releasing players are secretive about the terms. Regardless, Ontario clubs are not receiving enough financial compensation, says Cockerton. "We don't want to stop players from going out there but if they can afford to pay players thousands of dollars to go out there they should be paying the clubs who supply them," says Cockerton. If free agency was any more liberal, he adds, "That would be a devastating thing for our major teams." Brampton edged Victoria in a thrilling seven-game series in the Mann Cup final last summer, and the Shamrocks are determined to win it all this time. Other NLLers are spread around. Chris Gill, Craig Gelsvick and Matt Disher are with the New Westminster Salmonbellies. Curtis Palidwor, Al Truant, Rory Graham and Cam Sedgwick are with the Burnaby Lakers. Dwight Maetche is playing goal for the North Shore Thunder. In the OLA, Brampton has loaded up with Doyle, Josh Sanderson, Aime Caines, Dan Teat, Rusty Kruger and Sandy Chapman. Gavin Prout and Gee Nash are playing for the Brooklin Redmen. The St. Catharines Athletics have Anthony Cosmo in the nets and Carter Livingstone on defence. The Six Nations Chiefs have Kim Squire, Cam and Cory Bomberry, Dallas Squire and Derek General. But a lot of the brightest stars are on the West Coast, where the money and the mountains are an irresistible lure.

Sharing Team Members With Buzz Hurting Chiefs
By Jon Kuiperij: Burlington Post Thursday June 19, 2003 BURLINGTON -- The decision to share players with an affiliated team has caught up with the Burlington Junior A Chiefs. The lacrosse squad has seven players who also compete with the Oakville Buzz, the Chiefs' Junior B associate club, and has suffered as a result, according to Burlington coach and general manager Jeff Dowling. "In the off-season our executive decided to go with a minimum number of players this year, to try and get more playing time and more experience for the younger junior players," Dowling said. "There wasn't a lot of scheduling conflict as far as games went, but we didn't take into account the practices. Looking back, it could have been the right decision if certain parameters had been set." David Brock, Stefan Leblanc, Joel Leveille, Geoff Farrar, Matt Kwiecien, Jeff Brownlee and Reid Westmacott have all played at least four games for Oakville this campaign. As a result, the Chiefs have had to play several games this season without a full lineup. With the 9-9 Buzz in a tight playoff race and home against Milton last Friday night, Burlington went into Orillia with 12 players and was whipped 18-5 by the lowly Kings. Coupled with a 17-8 loss in Peterborough last Wednesday, the Chiefs now sit with a 2-12 record and their playoff hopes all but gone. DOWLING NOT RETURNING IN 2004 Dowling met with his squad at Monday's practice to deal with the club's growing frustration and inform the players he will not return next season. "A big part of it is my commitment, and I've spread myself too thin. I travel a lot with my work and I have three young kids," said Dowling, adding he was considering such a decision before the season began. "I haven't been able to be there for every game and practice, and it has been real tough on me and my family." Dowling will continue as coach and general manager until the end of the season, and will be involved in the selection of next year's coaching staff. Although he has not thrown in the towel on the Chiefs' fleeting post-season prospects, Dowling has made a couple recent moves with next year in mind. Burlington shipped defender Mike Dawson to Brampton for Glen McDonald. The Chiefs also dealt leading scorer Shawn Pollock to Kitchener in return for the draft pick they gave up when acquiring Trevor Comb earlier this month.

Saints 'Owe' Gaels After Trade Nixed Scarborough backs out of swap, but retains players Leave Green Gaels with nothing
By Brad Kelly: durham.com Thursday June 19, 2003 BOWMANVILLE -- After pulling the trigger on a trade last week, Clarington Green Gaels general manager Doug Luey had the deal ultimately shot down by the Scarborough Saints. In a four-player swap between the Junior B lacrosse clubs, the Green Gaels sent Ryan McMichael and Dayne Boatswain to the Saints in exchange for Jeff Tsuji and Cody Laforme. McMichael and Boatswain have played a pair of games each for the Saints, while Tsuji and Laforme were sitting out the remainder of a league suspension and were unavailable for Friday's 11-8 win by the Green Gaels over Halton Hills. But before the two Saints players could appear in their first game, the executive of the minor lacrosse system in Scarborough, which owns the Junior B team there, nixed the trade made by the club's general manager Rick Fitchett. Frustrated with the chain of events, Luey told the Saints on Monday to forget about the deal. Instead, Luey gave Boatswain and McMichael conditional releases to play for the Saints, and will receive nothing in return, which suits him just fine. "If there is a strong point that has come out of all of this, Scarborough owes me and they know that," says Luey. "We have enough players in the area that we don't need to hold kids ransom to come here and play," he adds. "All we were trying to do with the trade is keep four kids playing lacrosse that weren't playing." McMichael and Boatswain had been suspended by the Green Gaels for disciplinary reasons. In four games since his return from the Junior A New Westminster Salmonbellies, McMichael had 5-6-11 totals, while Boatswain posted 4-9-13 numbers in 10 games. Tsuji had 11-15-26 numbers and was fifth in team scoring in Scarborough, while Laforme was fourth with 11-16-27 offensive totals. Another of the hang-ups in the trade was Laforme's lack of interest in reporting to the Green Gaels, says Luey. The gifted scorer is a lifetime Scarborough player and wanted to finish his career with his hometown team. With the league trade deadline just two days away (Friday), Luey is still hoping to add another player through the trade route, looking for a left-handed goal scorer. Talks are ongoing with Elora and Markham, he says.

Warlords Make Playoff Push Have Two Games Remaining In Jr "B" Lacrosse Season
By BERND FRANKE: Welland Tribune Photo by Kevin Argue Thursday June 19, 2003 PORT WELLAND -- Hopes were high when the Welland Warlords closed their training camp and opened the junior B lacrosse season. After qualifying for post-season play in each of their first two seasons in the league, Welland was determined to advance to the next level. A team that has yet to win its first playoff game, the Warlords not only wanted to make the playoffs, they wanted to make some noise in the playoffs by, at the very least, getting past the first round. “I fully expected we would be sitting around .500, at least, at the end of the season,” team general manager Sandy Howe said in recalling the optimism of the pre-season. “We were all hoping to go deeper into the playoffs this year.” So much for expectations and high hopes. Instead of finishing the 20-game regular season with a 10-10 record, the Warlords will be hard-pressed to complete the schedule at 8-12. The struggling team currently sits at 6-12 and must face the always powerful St. Catharines Spartan Warriors Friday night in Welland. They close out the season the following night in Ottawa against a Nepean team that’s leading its division. The Warlords also aren’t assured of playing past this weekend. Unless they win one of their two remaining games, Welland will miss the playoffs if Guelph wins another game or if the expansion Niagara Thunderhawks take two of their final games. Howe and Mark Lewis, the team’s head coach, are both “fairly confident” that the Warlords will make the playoffs. They concede that beating St. Catharines for the first time in the three-year history will be a tall order but say Nepean is beatable. “I’m not so sure that Nepean is as good as their record indicates,” suggested Lewis. Howe agrees with that scouting report. “The Spartan game is going to be a tough one, but Nepean plays most of their games against teams in a weak division,” he said. “I like our chances against them.” Like the team’s general manager, the first-year head coach doesn’t believe the Warlords are as bad as their record indicates. He points to “two games, possibly three” that his team should have won to make his case. Lewis maintains that the final score in close losses to Guelph, Onondaga and Owen Sound could easily have been reversed. “Based on how those games were played out, we could have won with the lineup we had dressed for those games.” Having the same lineup game in and game out has been a chronic problem for the Warlords this year. Injuries and work commitments have forced the team to travel with as few as 11 position players and two goaltenders to road games. That was the extent of the lineup Sunday in Sarnia where the Warlords suffered an 18-8 setback to the Pacers. The team has also had difficulty getting the same players out to practices, an inconsistency that can be reflected in performances on game nights. “When you have different guys playing in different spots, it’s difficult to adjust,” explained Lewis. “It might be easier for experienced players, but we have a lot of young guys.”

Scott McMichael Minor Lacrosse Night
Thursday June 19, 2003 WHITBY -- This Saturday June 21, 2003 marks Scott McMichael Minor Lacrosse Night. The Redmen will host the Six Nations Chiefs at 7:00 p.m. In memory of # 23, the Redmen will devote this night to all the players of the Whitby Minor Lacrosse Association. All registered players for the WMLA will receive free admission, chance to win prizes and a special autograph session with their favourite Redmen players on the floor following the game. The Redmen also plan to honour Tom Wreggitt who will wear a Redmen jersey and play in game number 500 of his Major Series career. “Saturday night is a very special night to the Brooklin Redmen and it's fans for many reasons. Scotty McMichael would have been 39 today June 19th. He was the complete inspirational leader for the Brooklin Redmen playing 9 seasons from 1988 till 1996 till he was struck down with leukemia. Scotty was the ultimate team player and still holds the Redmen team career penalty minutes records with 878 in regular season and 535 in the playoffs for a total of 1,413. Scotty was a member of 2 Mann Cup winning teams in 1988 and 1990 and was also a member of the 1985 Scarborough Saints Founders Cup winning team.” - Courtesy of Larry “Wamper” Power ”The Brooklin Redmen will be suiting up Tom Wreggitt Saturday for his 500th game at the Major Series level, only the 13th player ever to accomplish this feat. Players to have accomplish this prior to Tom are a virtual Who's Who of Lacrosse: Paul Parnell, Eric Cowieson, Larry Ferguson, Dave Durante, Cy Coombes, Art Webster, Don Ashbee, Ted Howe, Jim Wasson, Stan Joseph, Steve d'Easum, Gordie Dean and Whitey Severson. Tom, in his illustrious career played on Mann Cup champs with Brooklin in 1985, 1987, 1987 and 1990 and was also a member of the 1991 Guelph Power team that won the championship in the defunct Canadian NLL pro league. Tom, to date, has scored 555 goals at the Major Series level, 829 assists for 9th place in all time (trailing John Fusco's 832) and sits with 1384 points, 13th all-time in the history of senior A lacrosse going back to 1931. Tom's best season point-wise came in his 2nd season, 1970 when he came 2nd in league scoring behind Ken Colley with 41 goals and 62 assists for 103 points. Now remember that was 23 years ago.” As if fans didn't need further reason to be at Whitby Iroquois Park Arena Saturday night at 7:00 pm the Redmen are playing the Six Nations Cheifs with Delby Powless, Kimbo Squire, Jason Henhawk, Cam Bomberry, Bory Bomberry and Tim Bomberry as well as a hoste of others from the Iroquois Nations team that provided Team Canada and fans of the lacrosse world with one of the best games ever at the Oshawa Civic Auditorium slightly over a month ago. For $8 I can't think of too many better ways of spending a better Saturday night. See you at the game. www.brooklinredmenlacrosse.com Contact: Mark Stehlin 416.750.3590

ONTARIO JUNIOR "A" LACROSSE LEAGUE ALL STAR GAME Saturday June 21 2003 – Host - Toronto Beaches Dark Jerseys Light Jerseys
# Player SHT Home Club # Player SHT Home Club
00 Ryan Blair G Brampton Excelsiors 4 Mark Tinning R Kitchener-Waterloo Braves
4 David Brown R Toronto Beaches 5 Mark Craig R Whitby Warriors
5 Jordan Hernandez L Toronto Beaches 5 Rayce Vyse R Six Nations Arrows
7 Adam Mitchell R Mississauga Tomahawks 6 Kyle Neufeld L St.Catharines Athletics
8 Nathan Gilchrist . Burlington Chiefs 6 Sean Pollock R Kitchener-Waterloo Braves
9 Jamie Dowdall L Orangeville Northmen 6 Mitch Nanticoke L Six Nations Arrows
9 Marc Burton L Mississauga Tomahawks 7 Mark Paniccia R St.Catharines Athletics
10 Todd Bloxam R Brampton Excelsiors 12 Chad Thompson L Orillia Kings
12 Trevor Dubien L Burlington Chiefs 14 Brock Boynton L Orillia Kings
12 Brian Croswell L Peterborough Lakers 17 Pat Russell R St.Catharines Athletics
16 Mike Carnegie R Brampton Excelsiors 17 Ryan Benesch L Kitchener-Waterloo Braves
17 Adam Robertson L Toronto Beaches 21 Josh Colley R Whitby Warriors
19 Chad Culp L Orangeville Northmen 22 Mike McLeod R Orillia Kings
19 Andy Secore L Brampton Excelsiors 30 Rick Passfield G Whitby Warriors
22 Mike Temple L Peterborough Lakers 30 Mike Poulin G Kitchener-Waterloo Braves
25 Scott Gillingham R Mississauga Tomahawks 32 Bryan Riddell R Whitby Warriors
26 Mike Kirk R Orangeville Northmen 43 Rory Glaves R St.Catharines Athletics
26 Dan Carey L Peterborough Lakers 44 Stephen Hoar R Whitby Warriors
37 John McLellan G Toronto Beaches 48 Matt Vinc G St.Catharines Athletics
44 Matt Kwiecin R Burlington Chiefs 88 Matt Kwiecin R Burlington Chiefs
49 Josh Agar G Orangeville Northmen * * * * 








Mimico Prepares For Playoffs




By ROB ANDRUSEVICH: The Mirror

Wednesday June 18, 2003 

MIMICO -- The Mimico Mountaineers have high playoff hopes and are
looking to secure home floor advantage for the post-season with their
remaining three regular season games.
 
The Jr. "B" lacrosse team boasts a 10-6-1 record and with three games
remaining, are in a dead heat for the division title with rivals Halton
Hills. 

The Mountaineers host Markham on Friday; then travel to Halton Hills for
a first-place showdown Sunday and close out the season the following
Friday at home against Wallaceburg. 

Both Mimico and Halton Hills have identical records and both have three
games remaining. 

Mimico has won two straight, thanks to backup goalie Manny Hundal who
stepped in and led them to a 12-8 win over Milton Sunday and a 12-8 home
win last Friday against Oakville. 

"We have a pretty balanced attack," said coach John Robinson. 

Despite averaging almost 10 goals per game, they have only one player in
the league's top 15 in scoring. 

"We have Chris (Willerton, 12th in league scoring) and another five guys
who have at least 20 points. But we get 40 to 50 shots a night and we
have to start capitalizing (more). We have trouble finishing." 

Robinson is still looking for some take-charge players to emerge. The
Mountaineers have been consistently strong this year, but haven't
elevated their games like other teams have over the course of the
season. 

"We don't have anyone who's taking us to the next level, stepping it up
a notch and leading the team." 

That help might come via a trade. With the trade deadline coming this
Friday, they're in the market for a hot shooter. 

Player Scott Patterson has been moved back in a defensive role to shut
down some of the opposing scorers. 

The move has been successful and Patterson continues to contribute with
the odd goal. 

Friday's game against Markham will be played at Long Branch Arena,
beginning at 8 p.m.