So what does a team of 11- and 12-year-old lacrosse players do after winning a B.C. provincial crown?
Head straight to Me-n-Ed's, chomp down pizza and slurp Mountain Dew from the championship cup.
PoCo Saints did the fairly obvious for their age group in terms of celebration after and, having entered the six-team A1 draw as hands-on favourites, surprised few by parading to the Peewee provincial title Sunday in Richmond.
Only it was anything but easy.
"There was a lot of pressure, everyone was gunning for us," Saints head coach Josh Wahl told The Tri-City News. "We went 16-0 during the season and we came into the provincials as the team to beat. It's tough to keep the motivation high and take it to the next level, but the guys did it and deserve full credit for it."
The Saints went 5-0 in round-robin play, then met up with a their Tri-City arch rivals, the Coquitlam Adanacs, in the semifinals.
The A's gave the Saints all they could handle for 40 minutes, playing to a 3-3 deadlock after two periods. Then Wahl and his coaching staff, including assistants Dave Kidd, Chad Miller and Tyler Pace, had a rather blunt, yet prophetic, chat with the PoCo boys.
"We had a little talk and told them to wake up," Wahl said. "I told them this could be your last chance in minor lacrosse to go out a provincial champion... to go out and give it your all. And that's exactly what they did."
Boy, did they. The Saints pumped in six unanswered markers in the final frame and put an exclamation point on the victory and soar into the championship final versus the New Westminster Salmonbellies, whom they beat 5-3 to garner gold.
Prior to the playoff round, the Saints thumped Saanich 14-2, thumped Coquitlam 8-2, trimmed Juan de Fuca 3-2, tripped New West 3-2 in overtime and handled Ridge Meadows 8-3.
"I've had this same group of boys since they were in Mini-Tyke, so it made it that much more special," said Wahl, who will guide Team BC, including seven players from PoCo and three from Coquitlam, at the Peewee nationals Aug. 4-7 in Whitby, Ont.
The Saints' Austin Wahl was named to the provincial first all-star team and was also chosen tournament MVP. Game MVPs for PoCo included Wahl, goalie Will Holden, Nico Pace, Mitch Bye, Pierce Ormiston and Evan Wray.
Other players on the champion Saints were Joey Cote, Avery Elrick, Reece Hrycan, Alan Gane, Leo Minelli, Jack Hamilton, Brett Ginac, Cam Way, Max DiSalvo, Kyle Olstead, Adam Sahaydak and Trent Kellner.
Way also won his team's Warrior Fair Play award.
MIDGET MEDALS
The host PoCo Saints dropped a tough 4-3 decision to the New Westminster Salmonbellies in Sunday's final of the B.C. Midget provincial lacrosse championships.
The Saints settled for the silver medal after having tripped the Coquitlam Adanacs 5-4 in a double overtime thriller between the Tri-City rivals Saturday night at Port Moody Rec Complex, the co-host site.
The Adanacs went on to earn bronze via a 3-1 triumph earlier Sunday over Saanich.
In round-robin play, PoCo opened with a 6-3 triumph over Ridge Meadows, then blasted Saanich 9-2 and Juan de Fuca 9-3. The Saints then dropped a 7-6 overtime heartbreaker to New West before being bounced 4-2 by Coquitlam.
As for the Adanacs, they opened with a 5-4 victory over Saanich but were then spilled 5-3 by New West.
The A's recovered for a 9-4 win over Ridge Meadows before slipping 9-6 to Juan de Fuca and then doubling the Saints.
Warrior Fair Play team awards went to Coquitlam's Jake Sundar and Mitch Milani of PoCo, with Saints head coach Mike Kuppan netting Midget A1 Fair Play Coach honours.
