The Presidents Cup, arguably the most grueling tournament in lacrosse, is down to the semifinals.Â
After five full days of competition, four teams remain. The Ladner Pioneers, Snake Island Muskies, Allegany Arrows, and Edmonton Miners will compete today for a chance in the finals. The Pioneers play the Muskies at 4:30 PST, and the Arrows take on the Miners at 7:30 PST.
No team made it out of the round robin undefeated. Ladner finished at 5-1, while the Arrows and Miners finished tied at 4-1-1.
The Pioneers just played the Muskies last night, winning 5-3. They play roughly 21 hours later in the rematch today. The Arrows beat the Miners 7-6 in the first game of the tournament.
All of the games are being streamed in full by BCSportsTV. The game last night can be seen below.
Ladner’s Tyler Pace is leading the tournament in outright scoring, with 20 points in six games. NLL legend Shawn Evans leads the tournament in per game scoring, with 21 points in just four games, good for 5.25 points per game.
As no surprise, goaltending has played a significant impact on the week as well. The four remaining goaltenders are either NLL starters or have significant NLL experience. Christian Del Bianco (Ladner) and Nick Damude (Snake Island) need no introduction, while Cam MacLeod (Edmonton) has competed for the last two seasons alongside Damude in Fort Worth.
Gowah Abrams (Allegany) last competed in the NLL in 2023, but played in 42 games for the Philadelphia Wings and New York Riptide.
Ladner has won the last two President’s Cups, and will look to make it three in a row on their home floor. Last year’s final was won against the Miners, so it is still possible for a rematch of that contest. Edmonton was the only team to defeat the Pioneers this week.
Meanwhile Allegany made the semi-finals partially due to a dramatic last second win over the Six Nations Rivermen. If you missed it on LCD socials, it was Chris Cloutier who provided the dramatics for the Arrows.
Stay tuned to LCD throughout the weekend for more box lacrosse coverage!