The Box Lacrosse Roundup: Trade Season Begins in BC While Standings Are Muddier Than Ever

Trade Season Begins in BC While Standings Are Muddier Than Ever

It’s halfway through the summer box season, and the standings provide more questions than answers.

Coquitlam is 9-1 and clearly the best team out west. They are hosting the 2024 Minto Cup and look to be a serious contender to win it. Port Coquitlam and Nanaimo are close on their heels, but both lost this weekend (more on that later).

Out East, the tiers look a little more messy than they did last week. Beaches is still undefeated and is clearly the top team, but Mimico and Orangeville sit at 7-3 and together with Whitby and Brampton form the second tier.

After that, it gets complicated. Six teams in the OJLL sit between two and four wins, and the race for the eight team playoff will be complicated. The same is true out west, where Burnaby and New Westminster have five wins, while Delta and Victoria have four.

As the trade deadlines approach, teams will have to decide whether they are buyers or sellers. The next few weeks will be incredibly important in informing those decisions.

Box lacrosse fans across the country understand the incredible career of Curt Malawsky. Recently on the Back of the Bird podcast, the boys sat down with Curt to discuss his career as a coach and player, and his life now as a lacrosse dad.

As a reminder, the Box Lacrosse Roundup newsletter will be sent out every Monday and Friday at Noon EST. Interested readers can find subscription boxes on any of the landing pages linked below.

Ontario

The biggest story of the weekend was the return of Joey Spallina to the Orangeville Northmen lineup after a brief absence. He had 15 points in two games and his return unlocked the play of Liam Matthews and Trey Deere, who also had huge weekends.

Their Sunday victory over the Whitby Warriors was especially important as it helped the Northmen leap-frog the Warriors in the standings. Orangeville is now tied for second place in the OJLL standings with Mimico.

Speaking of Mimico, they finally ended their surprising three game losing streak with a win over Burlington. Mimico lost to Peterborough on Friday, which completed the season sweep for the Lakers. Peterborough still trails the other teams in the OJLL in games played, and likely have the best chance of the bottom five teams to break into the upper tier.

In case you missed it, check out this piece from LCD contributor Jon Donville on one thing every OJLL team should be excited about.

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British Columbia

The stories of the weekend in BC were trades and resilience.

The Delta Islanders dealt Chase Miller to New Westminster in return for Simon Poole and CJ Fahlke, along with a second round selection in 2025 and fourth round selection in 2026. None of those players have competed in the BCJALL in 2024.

Meanwhile, Burnaby traded Ryan Sheldrake and a 2026 first round pick to Langely for goalie Brayden Wandler. Wandler has been a multi-year starter for the Thunder, who are clearly in rebuilding mode this season.

As for the actual lacrosse, Port Coquitlam and Nanaimo both lost early in the weekend, then rebounded nicely win resilient wins on Sunday.

On LCD last week, we continued our series of WLA previews with the respective head coaches of the teams. Our own Jake Elliott hosted the Lacrosse Classified Podcast with Burnaby Lakers Head Coach Todd Stockdale.

Alberta

The Raiders completed an undefeated weekend that included a huge victory over the Miners, but Edmonton rebounded nicely with a one-goal victory over the Mountaineers.

As always, check out the rest of the great work from across the Lacrosse Culture Daily landscape!