Junior B Athletics advance
The St. Catharines Athletics junior B squad have been a resilient bunch this season.
The club got off to a tough start with just one win in their first five games before finding their groove and running off 13 wins in a row.
The A’s finished with an overall record of 14-6, good enough for fourth place in the Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League Western Conference, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
The A’s had to regroup after former St. Catharines Athletic junior A defender Alec Tamas was appointed interim head coach after the St. Catharines Athletics Lacrosse Club relieved Mike Lines of the head coaching duties last month.
The Athletics managed to navigate that landmine just fine, topping Guelph in five games in the first round of the playoffs.
“It means a lot. It was the first time the organization has won a playoff round since 2004,” Tamas said. “It’s huge for the city, it’s huge for the entire organization starting with our partnership we have with the A’s. It’s huge for these kids. It’s a huge confidence booster. It’s going to go a long way in their careers.”
Tamas tipped his cap to the players for their maturity.
“As well as we’ve done, it’s been a pretty difficult season and the kids have handled it so well,” he said. “They’ve come together and they’re a way tighter group than they were at the start of the year. We have each others back and came together.
“It definitely builds character. A little bit of adversity never hurts anyone.”
The A’s needed a full team effort to knock off the Regals.
“We had a couple of come-from-behind victories and Game 5 we were down a couple of goals early and we fought and never quit and kept fighting,” Tamas said. “We definitely have a very strong work ethic. We never gave up and fought every game. We clawed our way back a couple of different times and that was the main reason we won the series.”
The A’s now square off versus Elora in a best-of-five Western Conference semifinal. Elora placed first in the division with a 17-3 record.
“Elora had a pretty easy three-game sweep over Point Edward,” Tamas said. “They haven’t been tested very much this year and we’ve been tested a lot all year so I kind of like that going into this next round of the playoffs.”
Game 1 is Friday in Elora with Game 2 Sunday at Canada Games Park at 7 p.m.
Leading A’s playoff scorers: 1. Christian Lefeuvre 10-8-18; 2. Justin Porga 3-11-14; 3. Jaden Patterson 3-10-13; 4. Ian Kohut 4-7-11; 5. Max Brook 6-3-9.
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