Local lacrosse fans will have two teams to cheer for at the Minto Cup Junior "A" national championship that is being played Aug. 17 to 24 in Coquitlam
The host Jr. Adanacs and crosstown rival PoCo Saints will both represent the BC Junior A Lacrosse League (BCJALL) after each won its semi-final playoff series.
The Adanacs, which also won the regular season championship, lead the Saints 1-0 in their best-of-five final. Game two goes tonight, Aug. 2, 7 p.m., at the Port Coquitlam Community Centre.
The other two teams to qualify for the Minto Cup tournament have yet to be determined.
The Calgary Jr. A Raiders lead the Edmonton Jr. A Miners 2-0 in their best-of-seven final to determine the champion of the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League, while the Orangeville Northmen lead the Mimico Mountaineers 1-0 in the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League final.
The Adanacs and Saints finished one-two in the BCJALL standings. Coquitlam won 15 of its 18 games and PoCo had a record of 12 wins, five losses and a tie.
The Adanacs beat the Saints in two of their three games against each other.
Coquitlam was defeated by the Burlington Blaze in two straight games in last year’s Minto Cup final.
In January, the team announced former head coach Pat Coyle, who had guided the Jr. Adanacs to two national championships during a previous five-year tenure from 2015-19, would return behind the bench, along with Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Famer Chris Gill as his assistant.
Coyle also played for the only Coquitlam Adanacs team to win the Mann Cup senior national championship, in 2001.
