Soo Lacrosse competitive at provincials

This was the first year playing lacrosse for some of the twenty seven player on the Soo Lacrosse teams who competed in the Ontario Provincial Championships in Midland and St. Catherines this past weekend.

The Intermediate (Junior C) 16 - 21 year olds won the first game of the tournament Friday afternoon beating Gloucester 5-4. Friday night they lost 9-3 to Wallaceburg. Saturday morning they eliminated North Perth with a 3-2 win. Saturday evening they fell to Toronto in a 2-1 loss.

Coach Glenn Hrynuik describes the atmosphere this way: "By Saturday morning other teams had figured out that we were a first year team and they were surprised to see us still playing on Saturday. We became known as Soo-Nonimous because we still didn’t have a logo on our jerseys. Because the tournament was being held north of Barrie for the first time ever, it became a competition between Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario. Fans were moving from one arena to the next cheering for any team from their half of the province. It was electric"

Assistant coach Darren Primeau remembers: "By Saturday night only 8 of the 18 teams were left in the tournament and we were facing Toronto. We were down 1-0 after the first period, then were tied 1-1 after the second and could smell victory. Late in the third Toronto scored and we could not get the evener. The crowd gave us a standing ovation at the end of the game and the proud Soo players gave a final Soo team cheer in the middle of the floor."

The Bantam team lost 5-2 to Northumberland in their opening game. They lost a hard fought battle against the Six Nations team 5-4. Success finally came 9-1 against SunCountry (near Toronto) in the final game in their final pool game.

Coach Jay Houselander explains "We were one goal away in the second game from moving on to the medal round. This team gave their all to represent this city proudly, and they did. This tournament was more evenly matched than any hockey tournament I have ever attended. No wonder lacrosse is growing so fast across this province.”