The St. Albert Miners ended the provincial final with a big bang.
Friday’s explosive 17-5 victory buried the Calgary Mountaineers in the best-of-five series as the Miners capped off an undefeated playoff run in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League.
“It was probably the best we’ve played in both series combined,” said assistant captain Darren Kinnear of the sixth playoff win in back-to-back sweeps of the Mountaineers and Beaumont Outlaws. “Everything looked good. We had the ball swinging very well, defence was sound and goaltending was amazing.”
The senior B championship is the fourth in a row – equalling the RMLL record for the most consecutive provincial banners by the 2005-08 Sherwood Park Outlaws and 2001-04 Edmonton Outlaws – and the seventh in 10 years for the Miners, winners of the last three President’s Cups at nationals.
The Canadian Lacrosse Association tournament starts Saturday at Kahnawake, Que., for the Miners, 108-5-2 in the RMLL regular season and playoffs, as well as nationals, since losing the 2015 provincial final.
“It’s always a big honour,” Kinnear said of the Miners representing Alberta at nationals. “Everybody is a little excited and a little nervous at the same time. There are a few rookies on our team that haven’t been to it so it will be exciting for them and they will get to see what it's like to play eight games in eight days.”
The Miners play the Akwesasne Bucks (Can-Am Lacrosse League) Sunday, Capital Region Axemen (Quebec Senior Lacrosse League) Monday, Six Nations Rivermen (Ontario Lacrosse Association) Tuesday, Team Nova Scotia on Wednesday, Ladner Pioneers (West Coast Senior Lacrosse Association) Thursday, Snake Island Muskies (Three Nations Senior Lacrosse League) Friday and the host Kahnawake Mohawks (Quebec league) Saturday.
The medal finals are Sunday.
Follow #PresCup2019 or visit presidentscup.pointstreaksites.com for tournament updates.
Kinnear isn’t sure what to expect at the fifth nationals in six years and the seventh since 2010 for the Miners.
“It’s a different tournament every year with new teams and some familiar teams you’ve played before. You can look at everyone’s roster and see a lot of familiar names that played pro lacrosse, stuff like that, but you just don’t know how they’re going to gel together,” said Kinnear, who has played in the Miners' last four President’s Cups, including the 2014 tournament as bronze medallists to finish 27-3 and the three losses were at nationals in Coquitlam, B.C.
“You just really don’t know how it’s going to play out so you just try and be prepared as you can and be ready to go. Everybody is going to be good and you can’t take anybody lightly at this tournament,” Kinnear added. “All we want to do is worry about taking it one game at a time and playing our best to give us the best option to win every day.”
The tournament grind is what separates the best from the rest.
“It’s hard to get into a routine because one day you‘ll play at 11 a.m. and then the next day you’ll play at 8 p.m. so sometimes you only have like 14 hours between a game and other times like 28 hours so it's hard to plan your meals and stuff like that,” Kinnear said. “Playing two games in a weekend is hard enough, you can get a stretch out and use a foam roller to try and be able to walk so you can work during the week, but eight games in eight days is a totally different story.
“We're fortunate to have an awesome training team that messages all the players and makes sure everybody is ready to go and taping up injuries so it’s basically an organization preparing us for success and if we can help ourselves out by eating probably for the week and stretch, and not get into any of the fun stuff then we should be OK.”
Competing for a Canadian championship in enemy territory as the team to beat is not for the faint of heart.
“There is definitely not a lot of love for us when you go into these different towns. Last year in Nanaimo it was a great environment. They had a ton of local fans there, the building was sold out for the final game (10-8 overtime win against the host Timbermen) and they had people playing the drums. It was crazy,” Kinnear said. “It was the same at Six Nations two years ago. It was on their reserve and they had a lot of home fans and nobody really liked any of us so after we won (7-6 against the Six Nations Rivermen at Iroquois Lacrosse Arena) the whole building was empty. It was just us there and a few people’s parents as well.
“It’s definitely eye-opening going to these places and having to play in front of them, but you just worry about yourself and try and put the ball into the net.”
Several players have been there, done that at the President's Cup during the following accomplishments by the Miners:
First Alberta team since the 2007 Sherwood Park Outlaws to celebrate a national championship,
First team to repeat since the 2011-12 St. Regis Braves of the Three Nations Senior Lacrosse League.
Equaled the longest championship streak in the President’s Cup 55-year history and the previous three-peat teams were the 1976-78 Vernon Tigers and 1986-88 Fergus (Ont.) Thistles.
“There are the same 10 to 12 guys that have been to the past four P Cups together. We all hang out a lot off the floor and it's just a lot of fun to be on this team. Even all these new players that come in, either they’re rookies or you trade for the players, everybody has got great personalities and they start to realize what it takes to be a Miner and just how well our organization is run from the top down. They kind of understand what they need to do to be successful and the organization will give you the tools if you put your time in for it,” Kinnear said.
Playoff sweep
The Miners had a blast Friday winning their 21st straight game this season after losing the RMLL opener 13-9 to the Outlaws in Beaumont on May 3.
Period scores in game three were 6-3 and 13-4 en route to piling up 14 even-strength goals, a pair on the power play and one shorthanded effort for an early ending to the final.
“The less games you can play right now the better with nationals starting this weekend,” said Kinnear.
The offensive player connected on the power play to make it 8-4 at 7:22 of the second period and added five assists to finish the playoffs with eight goals and 24 points after going 29-34-63 in 15 games during the regular season for sixth place in league scoring.
Matt Kristiansen’s four goals featured a shortie in the third while finishing with eight points as the RMLL's top playoff scorer with 37 points and his 17 goals tied Graedon Cornfield’s total for the post-season lead.
Brett Baron’s hat-trick included a power-play goal during an eight-point performance.
Richard Lachlan, the repeat recipient of the Harris Toth Award as the regular season points’ leader with 85 and was fourth in goals with 33 in 12 games, slotted five goals and drew three assists in his fourth playoff game for 13-19-32 playoff totals.
Kristiansen was the runner-up for the scoring title with 75 points and was third in goals with 35 in 16 games.
Cornfield, who led the RMLL in goals with 40 in 13 games while finishing third in points with 72, also tallied twice and picked up five assists, while Derek Burak and Dawson Reykdal notched singles.
Netminder Aaron Bold, last year’s MVP at nationals, started his second playoff game.
The Miners never missed a beat after downing the Mountaineers, 10-6 in league play and 2-4 in playoffs, by scores of 8-5 and 14-8 the weekend before at the Strathcona Olympiette Centre.
“We had another week of practise to get all these plays down we’re running and just making sure we’re on the same page and it showed in that last game,” said Kinnear, 29, who commutes from Red Deer for practices and games in St. Albert.
