In a balanced effort, the Juan de Fuca Midget A1 lacrosse team bested Coquitlam 5-1 in the final to win the championship.
Teddy Jenner, head coach of the Whalers, said it was a big test for the team going to the mainland, because there are no other A1 teams on the Island.
Jenner has coached the majority of his group for five years, from when they were in pee wee lacrosse, and most of them participate in the lacrosse academy at Royal Bay Secondary.
The JDF Whalers beat a talented Ridge Meadows team 4-2 in their first game of the weekend, a lot of it due to the Whaler’s goaltender, Adam Bland, who Jenner said is one of the top lacrosse goalies in the province.
The Whalers rolled over Kamloops 13-1 in their next game, which gave the team confidence and momentum.
“It was a team effort where the guys bought into the system the coaches were trying to implement, and the team played and had fun,” Jenner said.
JDF took a 6-5 loss to Coquitlam in the third round robin game, but the team saw solid performances from Rily Hawes and Jacob Obee.
The loss meant the Whalers had to play in the semifinals against Kamloops, but it wasn’t as easy of a win as it was in round robin play, Kamloops came out firing, but JDF pulled out the win 7-4 to advance to the gold medal game. Jenner thought his team was better prepared for the championship game after playing the morning game instead of sitting around waiting to play all day.
Jenner said the final game was one of the best games the team has played all year. Carson Echilin scored a big goal for the Whalers in the final game, as did Noah Manning, and Bland was fantastic.
“When you have some of your younger players step up and score goals, role players stepped up and it really showed the depth of our team,” he said.
One of the Whalers’ players, Cam Lumb, got injured setting a pick, tearing part of the tendon off his hipbone from twisting the wrong way, and the team made it their mission to win gold for him.
The Whalers will be headed back to the mainland for the Trevor Wingrove Memorial Lacrosse tournament in June.