Junior B Athletics ready for playoffs
The St. Catharines WMKL junior B Athletics set the world on fire during the regular season compiling the best record in Ontario at 18-1-1.
The A’s wrapped up the Ontario Lacrosse League junior B season with a 13-5 win over Cambridge Sunday but the locker room wasn’t even cleared out and the A’s had already set their sights on the playoffs.
“We were stressing that to our boys right after the game in Cambridge,” A’s coach Alec Tamas said. “Yes, it’s great. Yes, it’s fantastic we locked up first place in Ontario, but when we wake up none of that matters anymore. We’re all 0-0 and you have to flip the book.”
The A’s begin their road to what they hope will be a Founder’s Cup championship with Game 1 of the playoffs in Wallaceburg tonight to begin a best-of-five series.
The A’s defeated the Red Devils 13-2 and 10-7 during the regular season, but Tamas says that is not relevant.
“Anyone can win on any given night in this league. You take a night off, you’re probably going to lose the game,” he said.
Tamas said the key to the A’s success this season has been their ability to focus on the task at hand.
“It’s keeping the emphasis on staying focused and staying disciplined and we want to keep getting better every single day, even in the playoffs. We still have to find ways to dig in and get better every single day.”
Tamas said the leadership group has seen to it the club not get too far ahead of themselves.
“I give credit to our group,” he said. “We have an unbelievable group of kids starting with our leaders. We wouldn’t keep them here if they didn’t have that type of mentality. Everyone on our team is a leader, everyone has stepped up and had that kind of next-man-up mentality all year. I doubt we’ve had the same lineup in back to back games all year.”
The A’s learned what it takes to win in the post-season last year where they made it to the Western Conference finals before being eliminated by the eventual champions from Six Nations.
“In Round 1, we got brought right to the brink of elimination. We’ve learned it takes your best effort, every single night in the playoffs,” Tamas said. “There’s no nights off, no shifts off, no periods off. You’re giving 100 per cent 100 per cent of the time. That’s our main focus all year long. Never get complacent, never get too high, never get too low.”
Game 2 goes Saturday at 2 p.m. at Bill Burgoyne Arena with Game 3 Sunday at 4 p.m., also at BBA. The A’s normal home rink, Canada Games Park, is unavailable.
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.
