The Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs lacrosse team is no stranger to success.
The Minto Cup and BC Junior 'A' Lacrosse League (BCJALL) championship banners at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex attest to that.
But the team’s general manager says two seasons away from meaningful competition because of the COVID-19 pandemic has been “amazing.”
Scott Wortley said the downtime, aside from a month-long schedule of games against Lower Mainland teams last summer as public health restrictions eased, provided an opportunity to “take a step back, look at the roster and really approach the team in a different way.”
That’s probably not what the other teams in the BCJALL want to hear.
The Jr. Adanacs, which last won the Minto Cup championship in 2018, culminating a run of eight appearances in the national final that decade (the team also won in 2016 and 2010), is hungry to get going.
“The players are just itching,” he said.
With his step back, Wortley said he’s constructed a roster of younger players like Ben Coghill, David Charney and Jack Charbonneau who will be anchored by seasoned veterans such as Max Semple and Adam Noakes.
Luca Antongiovanni should also be back from his sophomore season at the University of North Carolina.
“He’ll be bigger, stronger, faster,” Wortley said of Antongiovanni, who was just 16 years old when he first played for the Adanacs’ 2018 championship team.
In anticipation of the coming season, the Jr. Anadacs have already been working out for more than eight weeks.
Wortley said it’s been good to be back on the floor.
“It feels like home,” he said. “That’s when it feels like we’re ready to go.”
Off the floor, Wortley said the Jr. Adanacs are working to re-energize the volunteers who help make games go and reconnecting with Coquitlam’s minor lacrosse program with plans for special nights for young players, barbecues and autograph sessions.
He said the packed grandstand for last summer’s truncated “summer showcase” season shows support for the sport hasn’t waned during the pandemic pause.
“I couldn’t believe how great it was,” Wortley said. “It felt like it meant something.”
Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs 2022 home schedule
- May 25, 7:30 p.m. vs. PoCo Saints
- May 29, 5 p.m. vs. Victoria Shamrocks
- June 10, 7 p.m. vs. Nanaimo Timbermen
- June 15, 7:30 p.m. vs. New West Jr. Salmonbellies
- June 29, 7:30 p.m. vs. Langley Thunder
- July 1, 7 p.m. vs. Burnaby Lakers
- July 3, 7:30 p.m. vs. Delta Islanders
