Army ready to lead Athletics
Mitch Armstrong is in rare company.
The 20-year-old defender for the St. Catharines WMKL Athletics is one of only a handful of players to play professionally while still being eligible for junior.
Armstrong is coming off a solid rookie campaign with the Philadelphia Wings where he netted his first professional goal while appearing in 13 games.
“It was unreal. It was a dream come true, literally. I’ve dreamt of that moment my whole life,” Armstrong said. “It’s hard to believe I even got to experience it.
“It’s pretty surreal. Words can even explain how cool it is.”
Armstrong, who scored the goal just before Christmas in his second pro game in Hamilton in a loss to the Toronto Rock, provided the Wings with a physical presence.
“My role was an energizer and obviously a defender,” Armstrong said. “I think one thing that stood out was me being physical all the time on the D end. They were looking for a young, physical guy who to bring energy and I think I was able to bring that.”
Athletics coach Steve Toll is well aware how special Armstrong is to be able to play pro as a teenager.
“It says a lot about his character, for sure,” Toll said. “You look back at guys that played at that age — Shawn Evans, Latrell Harris — there hasn’t been a lot that went that way and not just being on the team, but also playing a huge part.”
Armstrong, who was part of the St. Catharines Falcons Sutherland Cup championship team which celebrated the two-year anniversary of their title Wednesday, soaked up as much as he could in his rookie campaign.
“I’ve learned so much just from that one NLL season,” he said. “I missed a little bit of time there with an injury but I’m just trying my best to pass on all the knowledge I learned there to all the guys here. I always try and slow it down and break it down a little bit whenever I can.”
Armstrong said the biggest lesson he learned was one of patience.
“I think before the NLL I was super excited and I would waste a lot of unnecessary energy trying to hit guys and do unnecessary things,” he said. “I learned to be patient, control my breathing and let myself play. No high too high, no low too low is what I like to remind myself.”
Toll said it has been easy to spot Armstrong’s improvement.
“He’s in great shape and he’s just a great teammate and a great leader and playing in the NLL makes him that much better,” Toll said. “You can see it. He’s knocking guys down, doing a lot of little things really well. He’s made some improvements and he’s going to get better and better and he still has next year ahead of him.”
Armstrong was able to balance playing pro with his kinesiology studies at Brock thanks to a slightly lighter course load and understanding professors who even rescheduled an exam when it conflicted with a game.
Now that he’s back with the A’s, Armstrong is eager to see how far the club can go the season.
“As soon as I started playing box lacrosse again back in November for Philly training camp this was always in the back of my mind,” he said. “These are all my best friends and we have an opportunity to do something very special and I look forward to coming to the rink everyday.”
The A’s fell to 1-3 in Ontario Junior Lacrosse League action with a 7-4 loss to the Brampton Excelsiors Wednesday night at Canada Games Park.
Colin French had three goals and Sutter Pilon, up from the junior B’s, scored for the A’s.
St. Catharines wasn’t able to build off a solid effort in a 14-13 loss at Mimico.
“Our game in Mimico, we played outstanding from goaltending, to defence, to offence. We did everything,” Toll said. “I challenged the boys in Mimico and they answered the bell. That’s all you can do. I said I wanted bruises and blood and we had bruises and blood. I’ll take a 14-13 loss to them all day, every day.”
The A’s are at Toronto Thursday, Orangeville Sunday and home to Mimico next Wednesday.
Dear reader. If you liked this story or one of the 6,000 other stories found on our website, please consider hitting the Support Us button on the right-hand side of our home page and making a PayPal contribution to our website. Your support would be much appreciated. If you are a business owner, please consider advertising on our site. Our rates are reasonable and we provide plenty of exposure for your business. Contact bpotrecz@outlook.com for more information.
