2020 Minto Cup coming to St. Catharines
The 2020 Minto Cup and U-16 midget boys and girls Canadian Box Lacrosse championships are coming to St. Catharines this August. From left, St. Catharines Athletics president Paul Coates, St. Catharines Minor Lacrosse Association vice-president Dan Pilon, Economic Development Officer, City of St. Catharines Sabrina Maselli, St. Catharines mayor Walter Sendzik, Canada Games chairman Doug Hamilton, Canada Games chief revenue and marketing office Steve Katzman, Director, Economic Development and Government Relations, City of St. Catharines Brian York. Photo by: CANADA GAMES 2021.
St. Catharines will be a hot bed of lacrosse this August.
The 2020 Minto Cup, along with the U16 midget boys and girls Canadian box lacrosse championships, will take place Aug. 14-21 at the Meridian Centre and Seymour-Hannah Complex.
“The intent is to have a one-week lacrosse festival in St. Catharines,” Canada Games chief revenue and marketing office Steve Katzman said. “We will celebrate the game of lacrosse at all levels.
“There will be celebrations on a culture level, on a grassroots level, on a community level, and also an at elite lacrosse level.”
Katzman feels St. Catharines is the perfect host city for both events.
“What makes this so special is that if you are from St. Catharines or Niagara, you have grown up with an affinity for lacrosse, whether you played it or not,” he said. “I think to be able to bring the Minto Cup here along with the U16 national championships, and knowing the St. Catharines A’s will be in the Minto Cup, is just an incredible opportunity for this community.”
Katzman feels St. Catharines will provide a solid volunteer pool.
“Between the Double Blue Alumni, the St. Catharines Old Boys, and then factor in there are six minor lacrosse associations across Niagara and over 1,500 kids playing lacrosse across Niagara. We will reach into that pool and draw our volunteers.”
The Athletics were awarded the Minto Cup Sunday, beating out bids from Brampton and Mimico. St. Catharines last hosted the Minto in 2001 when they defeated the Burnaby Lakers to capture the junior A lacrosse championship of Canada.
“It’s super exciting,” A’s president Paul Coates said. “Obviously the Athletics are a community organization. We don’t have an individual owner so the fact we can get everybody in the community involved, led by our board, is super exciting.
“The legacy we hope to be able to leave once it’s said and done, we can’t be more excited. Economically for the city it’s going to be great. The number of people it’s going to draw in is awesome.”
The first order of business will be to form a host organizing committee.
“We will take a leadership role in forming the host organizing committee comprised of us, the A’s, St. Catharines Minor Lacrosse Association and minor lacrosse across Niagara and the City of St. Catharines,” Katzman said. “By virtue of our internal infrastructure, we have the ability to drive that.”
Katzman feels the committee is a prime example of Canada Games working with the community.
“One of the things we have tried to do from the beginning is our ability to forge partnerships in the region. A prime example of that is this case,” he said. “We knew that the local lacrosse community was a very vibrant one and a very passionate one. We knew we had the machinery to be able to assist here and at that point it was just a matter of us taking a leadership role and us engaging the various stakeholders.”
Lacrosse will be the fourth test event leading up to the 2021 Games following the Women’s IIHF Hockey Championships in 2018, the FIBA Basketball championships in June 2018, and the Olympic Wrestling Trials last month.
As the host team, the Athletics will automatically qualify for the Minto Cup, which will also feature champions from British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta.
All Minto Cup games will be played at the Meridian Centre on a floor which is already slated for use at the Canada Games Park next to Brock University.
The U16 championships will be played at the Seymour-Hannah while Jack Gatecliff Arena will be used as a practice facility.
“Our partnership with the Municipality of St. Catharines allows us to have access to their facilities for their events like this,” Katzman said.
All games will be streamed live on with assistance of Niagara College.
“As we get closer to the event, you’ll hear more noise. Our intention is to begin to build out our digital platforms first and at the same time we will engage with all the minor lacrosse associations. We would like to tie in with all the associations across Niagara in that process,” Katzman said.
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