The 2025 Minto Cup is finally here. After months of build up, the Canadian Jr. A championship begins tonight in St. Catharines.
Three quarters of the tournament field returns from last year, with the defending Coquitlam Adanacs joining the Orangeville Northmen and the Raiders Lacrosse Club. The host St. Catharines Athletics round out the tournament field.
The tournament begins this afternoon at 4 PM with a rematch of last year’s finals between Coquitlam and Orangeville. The Raiders and Athletics will follow that matchup at 7:30.
This year’s event should be a great one for lacrosse fans, with streaming options available for free to all viewers. Fans can find the games either on TSN+ or on NLL+. While many fans already have TSN+, NLL+ is a free option for those without an existing subscription. Yesterday’s press conference is also available on NLL+.
The broadcast will be headlined by Jake Elliott, Pat Gregoire and Ashley Docking. I will be making a brief cameo tomorrow in Ashley’s absence, but fans should expect a professional broadcast from the three talented individuals above.
The tournament is being held at the Meridian Centre, the home of the OHL’s Niagara Ice Dogs. The Centre is a 5,300 seat venue right in the heart of downtown St. Catharines that should be an incredible host for the tournament. While not the permanent home of the Athletics, the Meridian Centre did host an NLL pre-season game this season and proved to be an excellent venue for lacrosse. Tickets can be found here.
In case you missed it, check out our coverage of 10 players to watch in the tournament!
With the logistics out of the way, let’s get into the 2025 Minto Cup Preview!
Who’s In?
This is nearly an exact repeat of last year’s tournament, which should provide some interesting drama as the tournament unfolds.
The Northmen enter the tournament after winning their second straight OJLL championship and 12th overall. They finished with the best record in the OJLL and were the favourites to win all season long, but got quite the scare from Whitby in the OJLL Finals. Of their previous 11 trips to the Minto Cup, the Northmen have won seven. Both are extremely impressive, but the Northmen will know that there is lots of work left to do this year.
The Adanacs enter after winning yet another BCJALL title, and have appeared in every Minto Cup except for one since 2009. They put together a dominant regular season, going 14-3, and lost just two games in the playoffs. Those two games did come in the finals against Victoria, who lost some players to international commitments halfway through the series, so there have been some chinks in the armour.
But the Adanacs are bringing back much of the team that won last year, especially on offence. Their top five scorers this year were all on the Minto team last year, as was Captain Ty Banks and star goaltender Jack Kask. The Adanacs are loaded up again.
The Raiders looked like heavy favourites all year in the RMLL but got as much as they could handle in the finals against the Mountaineers. Down 3-1 in the series, the Raiders rallied to win three straight and take the series in 7 games.
But the drama goes deeper than that. Down 5-3 in game seven, the Raiders called an illegal equipment check on the Mountaineers. Still losing by one with less than 30 seconds remaining, the Raiders forced a turnover with their net empty and Noah Everson tied the game, leading to an eventual Raiders overtime victory.
The Raiders bring back even more of their roster than the Adanacs, with at least the top 12 scorers from this year’s team having competed for the trophy last year. At the Minto last year, the consensus was that the experience would be valuable for years to come. The Raiders will look to make good on that promise this year.
Meanwhile the Athletics will make their first Minto Cup appearance since winning it in 2001. One of the oldest organizations in the sport, St. Catharines has a proud tradition in this tournament. They certainly enter under unusual circumstances however, having lost in the first round of the OJLL playoffs. However, their five-game loss to the Warriors looks better in hindsight after Whitby defeated Beaches and gave Orangeville everything they could handle. But nonetheless, the Athletics will have to knock off some rust, they haven’t played since July 20th.
Unlike the other teams in the tournament, St. Catharines has some fresh faces this year and since the trade deadline. Chuck Rawson and Lukas Nielsen were two deadline adds, while Jameson Bucktooth joined the team this year. They are still working on finding an identity.
Matchup History
Orangeville and Coquitlam had very interesting matchups last year at the Minto. Orangeville actually won the round robin game, but did so after scratching most of their top players and playing their backup goalie. Coquitlam appeared to let their guard down and the Northmen defeated them soundly, 12-9.
The Adanacs responded with resounding victories of 14-7 and 9-6 to win the Minto Cup, and will hope to carry that success over to this year,
Going back further than that, these teams have played several times in the Minto Cup Finals. The Adanacs got the better of the Northmen in 2016, when Christian Del Bianco and company defeated the Northmen in a five-game classic in Langley to win the Minto Cup.
In 2012, Orangeville beat the Adanacs in Whitby to win the Minto Cup. That group was led by Dillon Ward and the brothers Noble.
The 2010 Adanacs cemented their status as one of the great Jr. A teams in history by beating the Northmen at the palace on Poirier. Could we see another matchup this year in the finals? It’s certainly possible, and it would renew one of the great cross-country rivalries in the nation.
The Raiders played one of their best games of the tournament last year against Coquitlam, eventually losing 10-8. They did get crushed by the Northmen 13-6, in a game that was 8-1 after the first period. The Raiders will hope their previous experience will protect them from a barrage like this, but they obviously need to avoid getting down early.
There are some fun matchups involving the Athletics in this tournament. For starters, the Athletics actually took both games off the Northmen this year. One of them was very early in the season, but the other came on June 22nd when the Northmen had their full roster. They will look to continue that success in the biggest moments.
As for the other two participants, as far as I can tell, this will be the first ever meeting between the Athletics and both the Adanacs and Raiders. That is one of the great things about this tournament.
Keys for Each Team
Everyone – Goaltending
This one applies to every team, as the team with the best goaltender almost always wins the Minto Cup. That was true last year as Jack Kask was incredible in the tournament, and he is returning again. The other three must match his performance this week.
Northmen – Avoid the Scoring Droughts
Orangeville got opportunistic scoring in the OJLL finals, there is no denying that. With three overtime victories, their players stepped up when it mattered and came through in the clutch.
But that was partly necessitated by the long scoring droughts that plagued the Northmen throughout the tournament, including 27:06 in game five and 42:43 in game four. In game six, they had a one-goal first period and in game two, they had 2 goals in the first two periods.
Obviously the Northmen would like to score more goals in general, but they have to specifically avoid the long lulls in momentum. The Adanacs especially are a well-oiled machine and they will punish these ebbs and flows, and build extended runs of their own. The Northmen must control the momentum, and consistent goals are the only way to do it.
Adanacs – Get Rid of the Plane Legs
Coquitlam is led by veteran NLL coaches who are familiar with the challenges of cross-country travel, but it’s the players who will have to adjust. The Adanacs only punched their ticket last weekend, so it’s been a whirlwind week with logistics, travel and now preparation for the tournament.
Last year, the Adanacs found their footing as the tournament wore on, with a narrow win over the Raiders, a nice win against Poco and a loss to the Northmen. They relied on the home crowd and the comfort of their own beds to steadily improve throughout.
That will be much more difficult out east, and Coquitlam will need to find their rhythm as fast as possible. An opening night matchup with Orangeville will make that more difficult, so the challenge is cut out for Coquitlam.
Raiders – Get to 8
The Raiders improbably won a 7-game series in the RMLL finals despite not once scoring more than 7 goals in a single game. In order, they scored 6, 4 , 4, 7, 6 ,7 and 7 goals.
While it’s true that defence and goaltending are vital, the Raiders will need to score more goals to have any chance in this tournament. New Vegas Offensive Coordinator Brett Hickey will have his guys ready, and we will see what adjustments they can make.
The good thing for the Raiders is their balance and experience. All of their best guys played last year, and they are extremely balanced when operating at peak efficiency.
Athletics – Throw a Curveball
The long break was not ideal, but it did provide two advantages for the Athletics.
The first is that they will be rested and healthy. The playoffs are a grind and the other teams will be entering with plenty of bumps and bruises if not more significant injuries. St. Catharines should be feeling good.
The second is that they had plenty of practice time to throw in some wrinkles come tournament time. I am curious specifically if the Athletics employ some sort of modified transition system to turn up the tempo and leverage their rest. They have some bodies who can play on both ends, and I would consider taking some chances in the deployment of these players.
They will also be buttoned up in 6v5 scenarios, set pieces and other specific parts of the game. They need to maximise their advantages everywhere they can.
X Factors
Northmen – Liam Matthews
The Northmen’s best player, Matthews was hampered by an injury in the OJLL finals. These last few days off should have done wonders, but the Minto is a grind of a tournament with three games in three days at the minimum. Matthews will need to be healthy and productive. The good news for Northmen fans is that he was very good in the Minto last year, so the stage doesn’t seem to be a worry for him.
Coquitlam – Ryan Colsey and Nathan Chalmers
The Adanacs two leading scorers are right-handed Jaxon Dillon and left-handed Cody Malawsky. But Chalmers and Colsey provide two other great options on either side, and proved very important in the final series against Victoria.
Both Colsey and Chalmers had 5 goals in a game, with Colsey’s coming in the deciding game six and Chalmers doing it in game two. Secondary scoring is always important, especially when one of your depth players can step in and take over a game.
While Dillon and Malawsky will carry the load, look for these two to steal a game or two. That’s a huge luxury that few others in this tournament have.
Raiders – Tommy Wood
Upsets in lacrosse require elite goaltending play, it’s one of the golden rules of the sport. Wood was excellent in the RMLL playoffs and overall solid last year in the Minto. He will need to bring his A game for the Raiders to have any chance.
Athletics – Lukas Nielsen
A New-Westminster native, Nielsen will have a huge role in familiarizing his coaches and teammates with the Adanacs roster and tendencies. But more importantly, the 2024 BCJALL MVP has to score, St. Catharines simply did not get enough production up front in the playoffs. After playing for the nearby Buffalo Bandits and winning an NLL title this spring, he will look to make it two rings in 2025.
Make sure to stay locked into LCD’s coverage all tournament long, and enjoy the greatest weekend in box lacrosse.