Midget Bulldogs claim Canadian field crown

SPORTS & LEISURE

Midget Bulldogs claim Canadian field crown

EAMONN MAHER Staff Writer Capping an undefeated season at 15-0, the Halton Hills Midget #1 Bulldogs claimed the Alumni Cup as the top under-16 men's national field lacrosse team in Canada this past weekend in Victoria, B.C., downing New Westminster, B.C. 13-6 in Sunday's championship game. As the only eastern Canadian representative in the eight-team event, the Bulldogs' closest game was actually their opener of the preliminary round at 6 a.m. ET on Friday, when they played the same New Westminster club they'd meet in the final. New Westminster jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but the "run-and-gun" offensive strategy employed by coach Daryl Haynes' crew eventually broke down the opposition's defence. "The first game took us about a half to find our field lacrosse legs and we weren't concerned because it was just a matter of getting their game timing back in order," said Haynes. "They were all tight games until we got into the second halves of our games when our conditioning seemed to start paying off." The midget 'Dogs didn't allow their opponents more than six goals per game and the offensive juggernaut was in fine form, led by tournament all-stars Cameron Flint and attackman Jake Thompson. Generating more than 15 goals on average through their games, the Bulldogs used a balanced attack to counter the slower, moredeliberate style of their western Canadian opposition. It's the first time that a Halton Hills field lacrosse side has won a national title. "Defensively, we played extremely tight games from our goalie on out to every position, and that's the compliment that the other coaches gave us," Haynes added. "We didn't really have any weaknesses." Halton Hills captured the OMFLL midget A title with similarly convincing results at Kitchener in May. Six members of the team have moved on to prep schools in the U.S. and Canada, and Haynes expects some of this year's players will play Jr. B or Intermediate box lacrosse next season and receive invitations to try out for the Canadian under-19 field squad. Sunday's championship game in Victoria can be viewed on the Internet at www.fieldlacrossenationals.com. (Scoring details were unavailable from team officials) Preliminary round-- Halton Hills 8, New Westminster 5; Halton Hills 17, Calgary 6; Halton Hills 25, Manitoba 4 Semi-final-- Halton Hills 14, Pacific Rim 6 Championship-- Halton Hills 13, New Westminster 6 (Eamonn Maher can be reached at emaher@independentfreepress.com)

Midfielder Cam Flint of the 2006 national field lacrosse champion Halton Hills Midget Bulldogs was one of the scoring leaders for the local team on its unbeaten run to the Alumni Cup title held over the weekend in Victoria, B.C. Flint was named to the tourney all-star team along with lateseason pickup Jake Thompson of Orangeville. (Below) Team members are: Nic Spence, Justin Reid, Sean Sargent, Evan Lavallee, Dan Patterson, Chris Haynes, Kody Lyons, Thomas Harding, Brendan MacDonald, Kyle Andrews, Riley McGilloway, Pete Laidlaw, Jake Thompson, Ryan Haynes, Deron Dempster, Matt Cassidy, Patrick O'Brien, Dan Rovere, Sean Terry, J.J. Laforet, Adam McGourty, Ryan Flynn, Cameron Flint, head coach Daryl Haynes, assistant coaches Kevin Photos courtesy Doug Spence Haynes and Ron Flint.