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By Brendan Shaughnessy
Just before the Nepean Knights Lacrosse Tournament, Jeff McSorley started to get worried. The assistant coach of the Fundy Riptide was 1,000 kilometres away in Saint John, NB, and his bantam team’s roster was shrinking – fast.
One player went down with strep throat. Another broke his collarbone. A third got the flu, and a fourth hurt his wrist. With the trip already booked, however, McSorley and the remaining players went anyway.
Turns out, the trip was more than worth it. Just 22 seconds into overtime against the Huntsville Hawks, the undermanned Riptide scored to win the Bantam C/D division. After four years of silver medals, the New Brunswick boys finally ended their Ottawa trip with a win.
High-level lacrosse is scarce in Atlantic Canada, so the Knights tournament has become a can’t-miss event for the Riptide.
“This is the mecca,” McSorley says of Ontario. “We’ll sacrifice the vacations. We know this is the place where you’re going to get the best competition, the best refereeing, just the best lacrosse.”
The 19th-annual Nepean tourney attracted 54 teams, who battled in 118 games from July 17-19. Aside from the provincials, the event boasts more teams than any other lacrosse tournament in Ontario.
With medals on the line Sunday, 962 players suited up and ran in nearly unbearable heat. Outside, it felt like 40 degrees. Inside, the heat wreaked havoc on goaltenders and tournament schedules.
The humidity caused the Jack Charron Arena surface to “sweat” and become too slippery for play. So, the Midget B/C final between the Gloucester Griffins and Kingston Krossfire was moved to nearby Mlacak Arena.
The local troops wound up with a very one-sided victory. The signature moment of the Griffins’ 7-1 win came near the halfway point. With two teammates in the penalty box and his team up 4-0, Gloucester’s Marcus Stepto brilliantly eluded multiple Kingston attackers and kept play in the visitors’ end. Then, as if he hadn’t outclassed the Krossfire enough, Stepto made his way to the net and scored a rare – and demoralizing – 3-on-5 goal.
The game was at risk of getting ugly soon after, and a referee ejected a Kingston player after his second major penalty. However, Gloucester refused to be lured into any fights.
“That (chippy play) tends to happen when the score’s like this, but you just have to deal with it,” notes Griffins captain Sam MacLaurin, whose team will now focus on the Aug. 7-9 Ontario Championships in Durham.
The host Nepean Knights earned a tournament title of their own by beating Gloucester in the Novice B/C championship game and were also finalists in Novice C/D, as were the Griffins in Tyke C/D.
Nepean’s Mat Clavet and Willem Firth will both play for six-time defending-champion Team Ontario in the Peewee division of the Aug. 2-8 National Lacrosse Championships of Canada in Whitby.