Tigers Snag Silver In Esquimalt:

This is in todays Morning Star Newspaper:

Tigers snag silver in Esquimalt

Published: August 04, 2009

You’ve heard of underdogs – what about undercats?
The Vernon Re/Max Tigers are happy to walk away from the B.C. Junior B Lacrosse Championships as silver medalists.
The Tigers, who went 3-1 in round-robin play, bowed 9-5 to the powerhouse Port Moody Thunder in the gold-medal game Monday afternoon at Archie Browning Arena in Esquimalt.
The Tigers opened the scoring, but the Thunder fired several quick goals to steal the momentum and never looked back.
“Those first couple goals we let in kind of killed us in the end,” said Tigers’ captain Robbie Short. “They’ve got a lot of good shooters and have good ball movement on offence.
“They got a few lucky goals and we took a few penalties, but a few lucky bounces and we could have turned it around.”
Added Tigers’ head coach Rich Zecchel: “Losing 9-5 to a team like Port Moody is OK, but the guys were disappointed they lost. We still had a pretty outstanding year.
“They’re (Thunder) a highly-skilled, strong side. They’d be a very competitive Junior A team. A lot of those kids play A1 all through minor – we don’t even have an A1 team.”
Zecchel adds there is always an element of uncertainty heading into provincials, and after bowing 14-3 to the Thunder in preliminary action, he is proud of the way the Cats responded.
“It’s an unknown,” said Zecchel. “You know you’ll be competitive with the Island, but the Lower Mainland will be the toughest always because of their numbers.
“I think we all surpassed our expectations. Winning the (Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrose League) was the most important thing. That’s what you compete for all season every year.
“Going to provincials is a bonus, and winning a silver medal is a bonus on top of that.”
Short says the silver medal is all the more satisfying knowing the Cats, who finished third in the TOJLL standings, weren’t expected to get as far as they did at provincials.
“Historically, the Okanagan teams are usually pretty underrated, but we always do fairly well.
“We were definitely underdogs going in and I think we surprised a few teams. I don’t think they expected us to be as physical as we were, or as fast.”
The Cats, who last earned silver in 2003, iced the Westshore Bears of Juan de Fuca 10-4 Saturday morning, clipped the host Esquimalt Eagles 5-4 Sunday morning and thumped the Prince George Posse 9-5 that afternoon.
Against the Eagles’ net, the Tigers’ Brennan Plante connected with Ryan Landels as he cut through the middle for the winner late in the third to secure a berth in the gold-medal game.
“It was back and forth right until a few minutes left,” said Zecchel. “As the host team, they were hoping to make it to the gold-medal game, but by beating them, we got there instead.”
Landels posted 9-2-11, including four powerplay goals in four games, and Zecchel says he was the Tiger who perhaps raised his game the most at provincials.
“That nearly reached his totals for the regular season (14 points) in just one weekend,” grinned Zecchel.
The Cat’s Jordan Jarvis (4-8-12) and Miles Jespersen (5-4-9) also chipped in on offence. But Zecchel says the Tigers’ defence, the play of netminder Josh Phillips and a team-first attitude are what got them to the medal round.
“Our goaltending got us there,” said Zecchel. “Josh Phillips was a second team all-star. He’s got a couple years left with us, so that’s good for us.
“Our defence was strong, our goaltending was strong – it was just an all around team effort.”
Zecchel thanked team sponsors – Re/Max, Coca-Cola, Boston Pizza, Canaccord Capital and Kal Tire.