Minto Cup slated to feature a heavy dose of Tri-Cities talent
The Coquitlam Adanacs and Port Coquitlam Saints qualified in this year’s national Jr. A lacrosse tournament held at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex
The Minto Cup may be a national junior lacrosse tournament. But half the teams in this year’s event hail from the Tri-Cities.
The Coquitlam Adanacs and Port Coquitlam Saints both booked tickets to the Minto Cup over the weekend, which is scheduled for the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex later this month.
Coquitlam, which finished the regular season atop the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League (BCJALL) standings, swept Port Coquitlam 3-0 in the best-of-five series to earn the provincial title. The Adanacs went undefeated in the playoffs, sweeping the Burnaby Lakers 4-0 in the first round.
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The Adanacs were already guaranteed a spot in the Minto Cup as hosts, and Port Coquitlam earned a berth as provincial runner ups.
“The Tri-Cities is one of those rare places in Canada where lacrosse is on equal footing, or greater footing than hockey,” said Travis Cornwall, Port Coquitlam Jr. Saints head coach, who won the Minto Cup as a member of the Adanacs in 2010 before playing in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) for 12 years.
“The Tri-Cities has a great reputation for producing top players that go on to play professionally and for team Canada.”
The victory marks the third time in the last four years that Coquitlam has won the BCJALL title. And it comes in the first season that a hall of fame coach, Pat Coyle, returned to the club as head coach.
Coyle previously coached the junior Adanacs from 2015 to 2019, leading the team to a pair of Minto Cup titles in 2016 and 2018.
“Pat is one of the best box lacrosse coaches in the world and we saw first hand how successful he was in working with our Jr. A team previously,” wrote Garrett Ungaro, vice president and governor of the Junior Adanacs in an email to the Dispatch earlier this year.
The Minto Cup, a tournament that has been awarded annually since 1901, features four teams: the winners of the BCJALL, Ontario Junior Lacrosse League (OJLL) and Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL), which comprises teams in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
The team that hosts the Minto Cup is also guaranteed a spot in the tournament.
Coyle, a five-time NLL champion, joined the Colorado Mammoth’s coaching staff in 2014. He then took over as the Mammoth’s head coach in 2018 and led the team to a title in 2022.
The Adanacs, however, have not won a Minto Cup since 2018 — despite winning the BCJALL in 2021 and 2023. (The Minto Cup was cancelled in 2021 due to COVID-19 concerns.)
Last year, the Adanacs reached the Minto Cup finals, where they lost the best-of-three series 2-0.
The Port Coquitlam Saints, who are coming off their best campaign since 2018, will be making their first appearance in the Minto Cup.
The Saints finished the regular season 12-5-1, five points behind the first-place Adanacs. But it marked a 23-point improvement from two years ago, when Port Coquitlam finished last in the league with one win and two points in 14 games.
The turnaround is a testament to the team’s coaching staff, which includes Cornwall’s brother, Jeff, an active NLL player, as well as the players that have stuck around and honed their skills since 2022.
“We have 12 or 14 guys that have been with us for the last three seasons that have developed from our 1-13 team to where we are now,” said Cornwall. He added that Port Coquitlam city council played a role by developing facilities — a new dressing room, turf floor and new rink — that allowed the team to take that next step.
“If you would have asked me three years ago if we’d be going to a Minto Cup, I wouldn’t have been so sure that we’d be going to one in three years,” he said. “I would have been certain we would go at some point — it’s just a matter of putting the pieces of the puzzle together.”
The Saints last reached more than 25 points in 2018. That year, Port Coquitlam recorded 28 points in 21 games, three more games than the club played this season.
Port Coquitlam has its eyes on this year’s title. But Cornwall, a teacher in School District 43, is also focusing on inspiring even more youth to pick up lacrosse in the community
“That’s another big piece of the puzzle,” he said.
Although both local teams have secured spots in the Minto Cup, their opponents are still to be determined.
As of Aug. 6, the Orangeville Northmen of the OJLL and RMLL-based Okotoks Raiders held one-game leads in their respective series.
The Minto Cup is expected to begin in Coquitlam on Aug. 17.
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