The Presidents Cup tournament is Canada’s national championship for Senior ‘B’ box lacrosse. The national summer sport of Canada has been full-throttle since August 26 and continues to September 2 when a national champion will hoist the Presidents Cup. Follow along as we bring the games to you LIVE and FREE, as well as photos, videos and all the fun that surrounds this outstanding tradition.
Semifinal Recaps
Nanaimo Timbermen (3) – 10
Oakville Titans (2) – 3
Three goals in the first 68 seconds gave Nanaimo a 2-1 lead. From there on there was no looking back. Even though the first goal came from the Oakville Titans, the Titans would be shutout from scoring for the next 19 minutes. They didn’t really have many chances offensively. The Timbermen were able to bury two additional goals, bringing their run to four going into the first intermission.
Oakville showed signs of life late in the second, making the Timbermen pay on a major assessed to Mazzocato for charging by adding two goals of their own. Those two goals stopped the eight-goal run of Nanaimo offensive tallies. While the hemorrhage of Nanaimo goals had been briefly stopped, it wouldn’t prove to be enough as those would be the final goals for the Titans.
A scoreless third period is a far cry from the comeback needed to overcome the Timbermen. I think we finally saw the Titans run out of gas. Nanaimo’s Jeff Shattler had a three-goal game, which was more like the play we’ve been waiting all tournament to see out of the NLL Championship MVP.
St. Albert Miners (1) – 14, Caughnawaga Indians (4) – 2
Quite honestly, this really wasn’t the game we thought we were going to see. This recap will be short because this game was short. The Miners won the most important part of this tournament — they had gas in the tank on day seven — and I believe they still have some left for day eight. It was apparent from the first eight goals, all tallied in the Miners’ favor, that the Caughnawaga Indians ran out of gas. Tired legs led to penalties, which led to goals, which led to more penalties. The Miners took a physical beating, but they live to fight another day for the three-peat.
Other scores
Onondaga Redhawks (6) – 13, Capital Region Axemen (7) – 11
Saskatoon Brewers (8) – 10, Ladner Pioneers (5) – 8
Gold Medal Preview:
The moment we have been waiting for all week is TOMORROW! We will see the Nanaimo Timbermen host the top-seeded St. Albert Miners at the Frank Crane Arena at 6:00PM PST. The Miners dispatched the Timbermen with a healthy margin by a score of 10-5 in round-robin play, but the Timbermen have done nothing but improve since then. The Miners will look to complete the three-peat championship, but the home team has just as, if not more, of a shot to take home the hardware.
Shires, Shattler and Diplock will fight to get inside against the likes of O’Meara and Duff. They’ll face a tough task getting the ball past stone-cold Aaron Bold. On the other end, the likes of Lachlan and Bal will try to repeat the performance in getting through Mazzocato and Chalker to get their opportunities versus Dubenski or Patterson in cage.
The Nanaimo Luckies have not seen President’s Cup gold since 1969. The Miners haven’t hoisted the trophy in 364 days. The home crowd has grown larger with every passing win for the home team. Should Nanaimo be able to finish the run on top, it could be in front of a sold out crowd here at the Frank Crane Arena.
To watch tomorrow’s broadcasts, check out our YouTube and Twitter pages, as well as here on the LaxAllStars website.
To re-watch the broadcasts from today’s semifinal action, you can visit our YouTube, Twitter and Facebook pages as well as our website by clicking here.
