Hello readers, Alex Renaud here from Feenix Gear. For anyone that follows the Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association (cufla) we are now coming up to the final four weekend! The season was a hard fought one but now its time for the post season. Only 4 teams could make it to the Baggataway cup and when push came to shove it was Trent that finished its season with a perfect 10-0 record and secured themselves a spot. Brock, Guelph and Mcgill were the 3 other teams that secured themselves positions.
The first game will be Saturday November 8th 2008, Brock and Mcgill will be facing off against each other for there semi-final game and Trent will be opposing Guelph. The two winners will then play off against each other on Sunday November 9th 2008 at 1;00 at the Ron Joyce stadium.
Here's a little heads up on what you can expect from each of these final 4 teams.
Brock Badgers
HOW THEY GOT HERE: a 9-8 double OT win over McMaster
WHAT’S THEIR STORY: 8-1 in the regular season, good enough for first in the West. Their only loss came against Guelph, a 9-7 decision four games into the season. The Badgers are looking for their seventh consecutive Baggataway Cup Championship and their 17th overall. The Badgers have made the finals every year since the inception of the program.
A LOOK AT THEIR ALUMNI: Shawn Williams, Mike Accursi, Pat Maddalena, Shaydon Santos, Scott MacDonnell, Grant Johnston, Ryan O’Connor, Ken Millin, Mike Hasen, Pat McCready, Wayne Burke, Ken Montour, Pat Campbell, Ross Cowie, Ryan Cousins, Sandy Chapman, Anthony Cosmo, Peter Lough, Brian Nikula, Mike Hominuck, Marty Cooper (coach), John Mouradian (coach), Jeff Dowling (coach), Jon Sullivan, Matt Roik, Mike Daley, Mark Tinning, Dean Hill, Kyle Dupont, Kurtis Wagar, Matt Taylor
ON THE OFFENSIVE: Brock boasts the league’s leading scorer in Chad Evans, who dug out 23 goals and 22 assists this season for 45 points, one point ahead of Trent’s Josh Wasson who took second in the scoring race. Chad’s brother Matt Evans plays the part of sharp-shooter with 30 points, 24 of them from goals, and Kenny Burst rounds out Brock’s top trio with his 33 points on 12 goals and 21 helpers. Jordan Coffey — a product of the Brampton Jr. A Excelsiors — is also one to watch with his ten goals and nine assists.
IN THE NET: Nicholas Spence who had a GAA of 5.47 this season in 600 minutes of playing time, allowing 41 goals in total.
BOTTOM LINE: Dynasties don’t happen by accident. The Brock Badgers have had a strangle-hold on the Canadian University field lacrosse finals since they first began and show no signs of slowing down. This is a team that knows how to win. They may not have had the best record in the regular season — that honour goes to Trent — but they haven’t had the best record the last few years and when it came down to crunch time it sure didn’t matter. Not only is this a team bred for success but Chad Evans is an absolute beast who knows what it takes to win a tight game and will find a way to get it done. In the quarter-finals not only did he score five goals, but two of them came in OT and one was the game-winner. They play tight, clean lacrosse with only 14 PIM in the entire regular season and that discipline will serve them well against the McGill Redmen. Top to bottom this is a scary team.
Who they are: Trent University Excalibur
Trent Excalibur
HOW THEY GOT HERE: thumped the Queen’s University Gaels 10-3 in the quarter-finals
WHAT’S THEIR STORY: Trent topped the Eastern division by going undefeated in nine games with their biggest scares coming in a trio of one-goal wins, two of which came against the McGill Redmen. All of this was a major improvement over the ‘07 season, which saw the Excalibur finish with a record of 4-3.
ON THE OFFENSIVE: the big name here is of course Josh Wasson, the Chicago Shamrox forward who’s busy finishing up his schooling and dominating CUFLA while he’s at it. Though with his 44 points he may have missed out on the title of league’s leading scorer by one point, he did lead in goals with 30. Mack O’Brien was close behind with 23 goals and 18 assists, and Zac McIlmoyle ten points behind him (19G 12A).
IN THE NET: Peterborough Jr. A’s backstopper Kalvin Thomas, who played a total of 400 minutes in the regular season with a GAA of 4.8 and only 24 goals allowed all season. Trent as a team allowed the fewest goals — 50 — of any team in the final four. Out of all teams only McMaster had them bested, allowing just 48.
BOTTOM LINE: How do you make an argument against an undefeated team? Well, if you’re Jay Thorimbert of the Guelph Gryphons you might imply that the Excalibur aren’t as deep as your team. While it’s true that Guelph and their total of eight players with 10+ points may spread the scoring around more than Trent, it’s the Excalibur who have three players in the top ten of both goals and points, while Guelph’s top scorer sits 11th in goals and didn’t crack the top 20 in points. What Trent has is a team that has largely grown up playing together, and more than a few guys who can without a doubt come through in the clutch.
Who they are: Guelph Gryphons
Guelph Gryphons
HOW THEY GOT HERE: a lopsided 11-2 victory over the Western Mustangs
WHAT’S THEIR STORY: 8-2 in the regular season with one loss to McMaster and a 10-9 dropped decision to Brock in their second-last game of the season. 2nd in the West.
ON THE OFFENSIVE: Leading the Gryphons has been Justin Wilson-Kirby, an integral member of the Burlington Jr. A Chiefs this summer. In the regular season Wilson-Kirby locked in 18 goals and six assists, but what’s even more impressive is that in the quarter-final game vs. Western he slammed in six points (4G 2A) to lift his team to a lofty victory. David Hallett had 20 points this season on 15 goals and five helpers, and Cameron Monroe took third place in team scoring with seven goals and nine assists. One to watch will be Jason Mainer who may have finished the regular season with only 15 points, but did so in just five games. He had one goal and one assist in the quarter-final.
IN THE NET: a very impressive Gary Muzzin, who played 720 minutes for a 5.44 GAA and just 49 goals allowed in total.
BOTTOM LINE: When you’re in a final four with the Brock Badgers and an undefeated Trent University there’s no shame in being a bit of an underdog. This is a team that’s worked darn hard for every win. They don’t rely on lucky breaks, which is good, because they don’t get any. One thing they’ll need to watch is their propensity for penalties; though Trent only scored seven PPG this season they know how to make their shots count. If Wilson-Kirby can keep stepping up and Muzzin stays strong in the net, the Guelph Gryphons could have an easy shot at an upset.
Who they are: McGill Redmen
McGill Redman
HOW THEY GOT HERE: by nearly doubling up on Bishop’s for a 13-7 quarter-final win
WHAT’S THEIR STORY: After spending 2002-2005 toiling in the lower half of the standings with losing records, the Redmen have completely turned their program around and this year finished second in the East behind the undefeated Trent, a team they lost to twice en route to their record of 7-3.
ON THE OFFENSIVE: Nick Moreau led his team with 30 points on 20 goals and 10 assists, with four of those goals coming on the powerplay. Matt Jankowski followed close behind, predominantly playing the role of set-up man with eight goals and 20 assists. Luke LaCava had 12 goals — three on the powerplay — and four helpers. Though he only had 11 points in the regular season, look out for Jake Safarik who got busy in the quarter-final scoring two and helping out on two more.
IN THE NET: Iron man Guy Fox, who parlayed 803 minutes of playing time into a 6.77 GAA with 68 goals allowed in total.
BOTTOM LINE: Just because this team looks to have more Americans than Canadians, don’t go thinking they’re playing some finesse brand of field ball. With 47 minutes in penalties this season this team has no hesitation for getting into the dirty stuff, and if they pull your team down with them, look out. Over 15% of their total offensive output came on the powerplay this season, and four of their 13 goals in the quarter-final came on the man-up. They’ll likely need to play a bit smarter against the Brock Badgers, who had less than 1/3 as many penalty minutes as the Redmen and scored ten goals on the PP. With the fewest amount of goals scored all season out of the four remaining teams, Moreau and company will need to solve Brock goaltender Nicholas Spence early if they plan to ban Brock from the finals for the first time in CUFLA history.
Special thanks to NLLinsider for providing this information.
Alex Renaud
