The road to the Minto Cup has been made a little more bumpy for Alberta representatives.
Beginning in 2014, the Minto Cup National Junior A championship will feature just two teams in a best-of-seven series and one representative from Western Canada to play the Ontario champion. British Columbia and Alberta titleholders will square off for a berth to the Minto.
“It kind of forces us in Alberta to step our game up a little more,” said Okotoks Raider Ray Banister. “Those guys out west and out east hold Junior A lacrosse at a certain standard. They grow up and want to play Junior A and put their town on the map. This change next year is going to do that for Alberta and force us to step up and be competitive with those teams.”
The current four-team format includes a host team and the provincial champions from B.C., Alberta and Ontario battling it out in a round-robin tournament.
The Raiders hosted the Minto Cup in 2011 and have participated in two of the past three national championships, with their only victories coming against Alberta opposition.
No teams from the Wildrose province’s Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League’s Jr. A division have ever beaten squads from B.C. and Ontario at the Minto Cup in its current format.
“We recognize that now is a time for change — 10 years ago change was set in motion that brought the Minto Cup to a new level, adding a third member association into the competition; today, we accept change once again,” commented Joey Harris, CLA President, in a press release.
“The Minto Cup championship showcases the best of what our sport has to offer — that has always been the case, but we have seen that the four-team format has not been the best format for those currently involved and also to those that may want to get involved in the future at this level.”
Raiders president David Fehr conceded Alberta has not done enough to prove itself on the national stage in lacrosse.
“When you have two teams from Alberta when Alberta hosts the Minto and they’re ranked 15 and 20 in Canada and you’ve got third and fourth in Ontario and same thing in B.C. then how would you feel about that?” Fehr said.
“The onus is on to get better, to bring in the right coaching, to try to create a lacrosse culture. If we can do that over time we will eventually be there, but it’s going to take a long time.”
For Banister, pride in raising the Alberta lacrosse acumen to the level of the other two provinces is a driving force behind the development model for the Raiders.
“We all want to set the bar for our young guys coming up and I’m sure the guys coming through their last year here want to do something for Alberta,” said Banister, an Okotoks native. “There’s obviously opportunities out west and out east, but we want to build the sport in Alberta and make it something special and something that can compete at those (national) levels.”
The 2013 season being the last in which the Alberta champions get a direct one-way ticket to the Minto Cup should put an added emphasis on the Junior A title this year. Calgary edged Okotoks in seven games last year to win the league and both clubs are the favourites to represent the province once again.
“There’s probably a better chance of making it to the Minto this year more than the next,” Banister said. “But every year you want to make it and you’re going to do everything you can to make it and when next year comes around we’ll deal with it then.”
The 2013 Minto Cup will be held in New Westminster, B.C. in August.
