Founders Cup gets underway this week

August 20, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The best Junior B Lacrosse teams in Canada are battling it out in Orangeville this week during the 2016 Founders Cup championship tournament.

The host team, the Orangeville Junior Northmen, won the Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League championship on August 8, in the final series against the Green Gaels of Clarington.

As host team, the Outlaws were assured a spot in the Founders Cup. However, coach Bruce Codd said the team wanted to enter the tournament as a championship team, not an entry based on their status as host.

“We played like we wanted to win the Ontario Championship,” Codd said of the final series. “We had a couple of goals at the start of the year that we wanted to accomplish and one was that we didn’t want to go in (to the tournament) as the host. We wanted to go in as the Ontario Champions. That’s a credit to the guys. It was something that was important to us and they earned it.”

The Founders Cup got underway on Monday, August 15, with the opening ceremonies.

Tournament play started on Tuesday, August 16, at the Alder Street arena – the venue hosting the tournament.

Teams battling it out for the national title include the Manitoba Blizzard, the Seneca Warchiefs of the First Nations Lacrosse League, the Calgary Chill representing Alberta, the Green Gaels from Clarington in Ontario, the Saskatchewan Swat, Team Nova Scotia, and the Coquitlam Adanacs representing British Columbia.

The first three days of competition feature a round robin style of tournament with games starting at 11 a.m. and the final game on each day getting underway at 8 p.m. in the arena.

The quarter-final round will take place on Friday, August 19, followed by the semi-final round on Saturday, August 20.

The championship final is scheduled for Sunday, August 21, at 5 p.m.