The Armstrong Shamrocks begin defence of their Thompson Okanagan Senior Lacrosse League Rowcliffe Cup playoff championship tonight.
The ‘Rocks host the Kelowna Raiders in Game 1 of the best-of-three league championship, 7:30 p.m., at the Nor-Val Sports Centre.
It’s a rematch of last year’s series, which Armstrong won 2-1.
Game 2 is Friday night at the Kelowna Memorial Arena while Game 3, if necessary, would be played at the old Hassen Memorial Arena Sunday night.
Armstrong won four of five regular season meetings with the Raiders but haven’t played since July 8.
Kelowna beat the Kamloops Rattlers 2-1 in the best-of-three semifinal.
Kamloops Venom out of medals
There is no provincial medal for the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League champions.
The Kamloops Venom fell 13-11 to the Saanich Tigers in Monday’s bronze-medal game at the provincial Junior B finals in Coquitlam.
The host Adanacs edged the New Westminster Salmonbellies 5-4 in the all-West Coast Junior League gold-medal final.
The Venom went 1-2 in the round robin.
Kamloops started 0-2, falling 18-4 to Coquitlam, and dropping a 12-9 decision to New Westminster, before closing out the preliminary round with a 13-12 win over the Tigers.
Landry lifts Raiders to final
Vernon goalie Tyler Landry and the Okotoks Raiders are tied 1-1 with the Calgary Mountaineers in the Rocky Mountain Junior A Lacrosse League’s best-of-seven final.
The winner goes to the Minto Cup Canadian championships in Langley.
Landry started Game 1 of the final, an 18-14 loss to Calgary, but did not finish. He bounced back in Game 2, going the distance with a solid performance in a 15-13 Raiders victory.
If the Raiders are to advance, they’ll have to do it without Landry or wait until Game 7 if the series goes that far.
Landry, 18, has left due to work commitments, the team said, but would be available if there was a Game 7 on Aug. 14.
“I know it’s probably eating him up that he’s working, he’s a great competitor,” said Raiders head coach Andrew McBride.
Landry, 6-foot-1, 240 pounds, was acquired by the Raiders in a pre-season deal with the B.C. Junior Lacrosse League’s New Westminster Salmonbellies.
“He’s done everything that we’ve asked him,” said McBride. “He’s given us the big presence in net I felt we needed.”
The Raiders and Mountaineers are meeting in the league final for the fifth year in a row. The series resumes tonight.
Western Lacrosse roundup
Armstrong’s Brett Hawrys is fourth in team scoring with the Western Lacrosse Association’s Nanaimon Timbermen.
Hawrys has 10 goals and 17 assists in 14 games played for the Timbermen, who are 4-13 and in sixth place in the seven-team loop. Fellow Armstrong product Owen Barker has 3-4-7 in 15 games for the fourth-place Maple Ridge Burrards (10-6-1).
Vernon’s Brodie MacDonald has a record of 2-9, a goals against average of 10.39 and a .779 save percentage for the Langley Thunder (3-14).
Former Vernon Tigers goalie Josh Phillips has an 0-1 record, 8.46 GAA and a .818 save percentage for the Coquitlam Adanacs (7-10).
The New Westminster Salmonbellies (12-4-2) have a two-point lead atop the standings over the defending Mann Cup champion Victoria Shamrocks (12-4).