He has been in five National Lacrosse League championships, won three Mann Cups and two Founders Cups and now Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs head coach Pat Coyle has added a Minto Cup to his resume.
The A’s knocked off the Orangeville Northmen 6-5 in overtime Monday night, locking up the club’s second Minto Cup in the team’s history and the first in four appearances since 2011.
“It is unbelievable,” a jubilant Coyle told The Tri-City News on the floor of the Langley Events Centre after the game. “I came aboard last year and we lost to Six Nations so it does feel like a bit of redemption for that.”
For the players that have been with the club for its last four unsuccessful appearances on junior ‘A’ lacrosses’ biggest stage, the victory is even more significant, he added.
“It is more about the guys that have been here for three or four Mintos,” Coyle said. “It is so awesome that our last year guys can leave on this note.”
Monday’s game capped a back-and-forth series and a tight championship final that saw both teams hold the lead at different points in the night.
A’s goalie Christian Del Bianco was given tournament MVP honours for his stellar performance in net, which he kept up in the final where he stopped 59 of the 64 shots he faced in 70 minutes of action for a 0.922 save percentage.
“It feels good,” he said after the game. “It feels a lot better than going home empty-handed.”
With neither team’s forwards able to take a significant lead on the scoreboard, goaltending was crucial in the Minto finals. But Del Bianco looked to be seeing the shots well and was quick to swallow up any rebounds.
“I don’t think it adds any pressure,” he said of being in a close-scoring championship game. “Pressure depends on how you take things. You can’t focus on what the score. It is just what is next.”
He said the team will take a few days to celebrate, particularly players like Tyler Pace, who has been to the finals in the last few years and finishes his junior A career with a title.
“We have always been so close,” Del Bianco said. “It is our club’s second one so it is obviously a big deal for us.”
Del Bianco came close to ending the game in regulation when, with 23 seconds left and the game tied 5-5, the Northmen took possession and pulled their goalie for the extra attacker. The Coquitlam netminder managed to scoop up the rebound and send the ball the length of the floor, just missing the Orangeville net.
But the Jr. Adanacs only needed three more minutes in extra time to re-take the lead, with the club buckling down defensively for the remainder of the overtime period.
When the final buzzer sounded Coquitlam was up 6-5. Players, friends and family spilled onto the floor while jersey-clad fans pounded on the glass to show their support.
“Our alumni came in big for Game 5,” Del Bianco said. “Having fans in the stands — the support has been massive.”
The game started well for Coquitlam.
Nicholas Mcnabb opened the scoring when he snuck past an Orangeville defender and buried a pass from Jean-Luc Chetner midway through the first period. The A’s took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission and added an insurance marker in the early in the second when Reid Bowering scored on a breakaway to make it 2-0.
But Orangeville wasted little time in responding.
Northmen runner Adam Charalambides was able to pickup a pass in front of Coquitlam’s net and slip the ball underneath Del Bianco’s glove hand before Thomas Hoggarth tied things up 12 minutes later.
The scoring picked up in the third period when Tyler Pace made it 3-2 for the A’s but the Northmen came back with two unanswered goals — one from Matt Vangalen and another from Hoggarth to make it 4-3 for Orangeville.
It has been a long week for both the Northmen and the Adanacs.
Both teams locked up their playoff spots early during the round-robin portion of the tournament, with Coquitlam taking down Orangeville 8-7 before defeating the Calgary Mountaineers 10-3.
That was enough to get the A’s into the best-of-five playoff round against the Northmen and Coquitlam won the series opener 3-2 in a game that telegraphed the low-scoring nature of the series.
Orangeville won Game 2 9-6 before Coquitlam bounced back with a 9-7 victory last Saturday night. Sunday’s game was also close, ending 6-5 in favour of the Northmen, which set the stage for Monday night’s final.
“It was an unbelievable series,” Coyle said heading to the dressing room after the game. “The one I haven’t won is a Minto Cup, so that says it all for me.”
