Even as their Minto Cup dream threatened to crash down around them, the Coquitlam Adanacs kept their eyes on the prize.
Saturday, that laser focus paid off as the team won their third national Junior A lacrosse championship by beating the Brampton Exclesiors 10-8 in overtime to take their best-of-five series against the champions of Ontario, three games to one.
Only two days earlier, Adanacs’ coach Pat Coyle was wondering if a champion would ever be decided after officials working the series refused to take the floor to protest a decision by an appeals committee that overturned a mandatory three-game suspension to Exclesiors’ star player, and the tournament’s leading scorer, Jeff Teat.
Teat and the team’s coach, Dan Teat, had been assessed match penalties for abuse of an official at the end of the final’s opening game last Tuesday. Under Canadian Lacrosse Association rules, such a penalty comes with an automatic three-game suspension with no right to appeal. But the Excelsiors argued Jeff Teat’s penalty hadn’t been applied properly by the officials so he shouldn’t be subject to the suspension.
When a committee agreed shortly before the teams were to play the second game of their series last Wednesday, the officials refused to leave their dressing rooms and the game was called off. Only a day of intense negotiations that concluded just an hour before the originally-scheduled start of what was supposed to be game three on Thursday, got the series back on track albeit with new officials. The missed game was rescheduled for Friday, which has been designated a day off for the teams.
But that was all just background noise for the Adanacs, Coyle said.
“We were oblivious to everything,” he said. “We just wanted to let our lacrosse do the talking for us.”
In fact, if anything, the controversy may have made the Adanacs’ voice a little stronger, more resolute, Coyle said.
“It felt like our opponent was doing everything they could to win, and that was fuel for us.”
Once the action returned to the floor of the Max Bell arena, the Adanacs won Thursday’s second game, 8-6, then fell Friday, 12-8, largely on the strength of a six-goal run in the second period by the Excelsiors.
The loss was a bit of a reality check for his team, Coyle said.
“With what was at stake, we played tighter,” he said. “We played not to lose that game.”
That lesson served the Adanacs well in Saturday’s game as Brampton battled their way back from a 7-3 deficit at the end of the second period with four goals in the first half of the third period.
Just over two minutes later, William Clayton scored on a power play to reclaim the lead for the Adanacs but Jake Boudreau got the Excelsiors back on even terms with seven minutes to play.
Neither team could find a way past keepers Christian Del Bianco and Steven Orleman after that, even as the Adanacs outshot Brampton 16-12. Over the course of the entire game, the Coquitlam claimed a huge advantage in the balance of play, outshooting the Excelsiors 62-37.
But Coyle said once again his team maintained its focus despite the heartstopping prospect of overtime.
“We realized we could lose here,” he said. “We need to finish here. We need to put our foot on the gas.”
Which is just what they did, as Clayton scored the winner with just under three minutes to play in the first period of extra time, then Ethan Ticehurst added an insurance goal just over a minute after that.
The Adanacs gave Brampton a slim chance to get back into the game shortly after they went up by two in the first overtime when Tyson Kirkness was sent to the penalty box for holding with 1:08 left to play. But their defence, and goalie Del Bianco, held fast. It’s little wonder then the Coquitlam keeper was named the tournament’s most valuable player, a cap to his junior career as he’s expected to be a top draft pick in the Western Lacrosse Association’s draft.
Del Bianco’s achievement was especially remarkable as he endured a root canal shortly before the tournament that became infected and had to be treated last weekend in a Calgary hospital.
“He’s a pretty unflappable guy,” Coyle said of his star goalie, who was in tears from the pain of the abcessed tooth at times during the week.
Coyle said the Adanacs’ victory is especially sweet as some of the players have been together since he coached them in Bantam. And winning the Minto Cup is a fitting way to end a season in which the team lost its guiding force of many years, local lacrosse icon Les Wingrove, who passed away last April.
“I felt he was watching us, and it was going to be okay,” Coyle said.
