Big Mac attack
Cody MacNeil has always had a knack for the net.
The 17-year-old forward for the St. Catharines WMKL junior B Athletics was a sniper in minor lacrosse and has continued to score in his rookie season with the A’s.
MacNeil potted 33 goals and 65 points in 20 regular season games to finish third overall in team scoring.
“He’s a phenomenal player,”A’s coach Alec Tamas said of MacNeil. “He can put the ball in the back of the net. It’s one thing we kind of struggled with last year and that was scoring goals and he’s added that really well.
“All of our rookies have been great for us this year but he’s really stood out as a guy we look for to score, especially late in games and on power plays. He’s the guy we’re looking to get the ball to.”
MacNeil played in five games as a call-up from midget last season and Tamas could tell even then he was going to be an impact player.
“We expected him to fill a pretty big role this year and he’s exceeded our expectations, which were pretty high,” Tamas said.
MacNeil felt getting his feet wet with the A’s last season was crucial to his success this year.
“I knew it was going to be a completely different game than minor midget. Bigger nets, but way bigger goalies to shoot on, way bigger guys who are more physical and older,” he said. “It was nice playing a couple of games last year so I got into the mojo so I could easily adjust to junior this year.”
MacNeil remembers hitting his stride as a scorer in peewee.
“It was my best year of minor. We won B provincials and every game it was multiple point nights,” he recalled.
His career took a minor swerve the following year when he failed to make the A team but made the best of the situation.
“In bantam, I was nervous and didn’t make the team that year. I played on Team 2 and had an amazing coach (Dan Pilon) and he really helped improve my game and lot and made me a great player,” MacNeil said.
MacNeil, who won a gold medal recently with at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) AA field lacrosse championships with the Governor Simcoe Redcoats, has high aspirations going forward.
“I want to play for the junior A’s and make it to NLL,” he said. “Since I was a kid it’s always been my dream to play against my two cousins, Tyson Bell and Latrell Harris. I’ve been saying that since I was five.”
The A’s finished the regular season in third place with a 14-5-1 mark. They dominated at home with a 9-1 mark and went 5-4-1 away from Canada Games Park.
“I thought it was a pretty successful regular season,” Tamas said. “It was tough in a sense where we never really seemed to have our full group of guys together for a long stretch.
“It’s all starting to come together now and finally getting everyone together just as playoff season starts.”
The A’s only tie was versus the Hamilton Bengals who provide the opposition Friday in Game 1 of the Ontario Lacrosse League best-of-five quarter-final playoffs.
Game 2 is Saturday in Hamilton with Game 3 back in St. Catharines Tuesday, June 27.
“There’s not a lot of room for error back to back to start,” Tamas said. “You slip up in two games and you put yourself in a real deep hole. It’s real important we get off to a good start, especially in Game 1. We’re going to be at home so we have to get off to a hot start and set a statement in the series.”
MacNeil feels the A’s have the horses to go on a long playoff run.
“I’m excited. It’s my first year and ready to go far, hopefully. We have a good, solid squad and I feel like we can do some big damage in playoffs and hopefully go very far.”
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