The Coquitlam Adanacs returned from Ontario with a little less luggage.
They didn’t have to pack the Minto Cup after the defending national champions were swept by the Six Nations Arrows in the best-of-five final in Brampton. The Adanacs lost last Thursday’s third game, 8-3.
It’s the Arrows’ third Canadian Junior A championship in four years, a string interrupted only by the Adanacs’ victory over the Orangeville Northmen last year in Langley.
But Adanacs’ coach Pat Coyle said with a strong corps of players returning next year, there’s no reason his team can’t challenge for the chalice again.
“Where this pays off is next year,” said Coyle. “These guys will really learn what it takes to win.”
Coyle said Six Nations’ defence was just too strong for his side to penetrate with any effectiveness. And when they did, Arrows’ goaltender Doug Jamieson stood tall.
“The way their defence plays, they make it tough,” said Coyle, adding his team may also have been hobbled by a virus that swept through many of the players.
After spotting the Arrows a quick 2-0 lead in the first period of Thursday’s game, the Adanacs’ Keenan Koswin, John Hofseth and Ethan Ticehurst gave Coquitlam a 3-2 advantage at the first intermission.
But that was as good as it got, as Six Nations scored the next six goals in a row to take the title.
Six Nations’ Austin Staats, who tied the game in the second period and finished the tournament with 24 points including 13 goals, was named Most Valuable Player.
