The Nepean Jr. B Lacrosse Club failed for a second time to join the Ontario Junior A Lacrosse League after two existing Junior A clubs voted against expansion, the club announced Monday. According to the statement which was published on X (the platform formerly known as twitter), the dissenting clubs were the Peterborough Lakers and the Kitchener-Waterloo Lacrosse Club.
The failed bid was the second time that Nepean has had their bid rejected. The club previously announced on October 2nd that their first bid had failed. According to the statement released by the club, the commissioner, deputy commissioner, and the Ontario referees all voted in favor of the expansion bid the second time.
“This is discouraging news to share with players, fans, coaches, families, supporters, and others from Nepean and across the lacrosse community,” said the club in the statement. “It is especially disappointing for Nepean, Eastern Ontario, Western Quebec, and Indigenous players from the area who will continue to be denied the opportunity to play Jr. A at home.”
Expansion teams require 90% approval to join the league. As currently constructed, that means that anything more than 1 vote against expansion is enough to deny the bid.
Nepean has experienced significant success at the Junior B level in recent years. In 2022, they won the Ontario Jr. B Lacrosse League championship en route to winning the Founders Cup as Canadian Jr. B champions. In 2023, they completed an 18-2 regular season which featured a positive goal differential of 148 goals (226 goals for and 78 goals against).
Numerous Nepean minor players already compete in the OJLL, including Willem Firth. In 2022, Firth won both the Joe Nieuwendyk Award for Rookie of the Year as well as the Green Gael Award for MVP. In the same year, another Nepean player, Will Johnston, won the Sanderson Memorial Award for Most Valuable Goalkeeper.
The last team to successfully gain expansion were the Oakville Buzz, who joined the OJLL in advance of the 2019 season. Before that, the Mimico Mountaineers joined the league as an expansion franchise as well, playing their first season in 2015.