Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs got off to a flying start with a pair of convincing wins at the Minto Cup national Jr. 'A' lacrosse championships.
Now the trick is to maintain their altitude.
The defending-champion Jr. A's followed up their tournament-opening 12-6 victory Saturday over the Edmonton Eclipse with a 14-8 triumph Sunday over Ontario's Whitby Warriors in Okotoks, Alta.
"We had opportunities to execute our system at both ends of the floor and we did that," Jr. A's head coach Curt Malawksy told The Tri-City News. "The kids battled hard, stayed disciplined and took advantage of our opportunities."
Against Whitby, the Jr. A's built period leads of 6-4 and 9-7 before out-gunning the Warriors 5-1 in the third period to make it a blowout.
Ben McIntosh, Casey Jackson and Tyler Garrison each pumped in three goals to guide Coquitlam. Jackson also contributed four assists. Other Jr. A's goal-getters were Tor Reinholdt, Wesley Berg, Patrick Omeara, Travis Cornwall and Matthew Dindsale.
Josh Phillips made 34 saves in the Coquitlam cage to earn the win.
Versus Edmonton, the Jr. A's again opened up a tight game in the third period by out-scoring the Eclipse 4-1 in the final 20 minutes on way to a six-goal victory.
Jackson posted another seven-point game, netting four goals and adding three assists.
McIntosh bagged three markers, with singles going to Jeff Cornwall, Jackson Decker, Berg, Dinsdale and Omeara. Phillips made 25 saves to scoop the victory as Coquitlam out-shot Edmonton by a gaping 54-31 margin.
Monday was an off-day in the tournament, with round-robin action in the four-team event set to resume Tuesday (after The Tri-City News' deadline) with the Jr. A's battling the host Okotoks Raiders.
