They got most of their rookies some floor time and used both goaltenders while winning three times in the 13th Archie Jack Memorial Junior B Lacrosse Ice Breaker Saturday in Armstrong.
First-year head coach Ryan Minchenko liked most of what he witnessed from the Vernon Source For Sports Tigers at Nor-Val Sports Centre.
“We’re a pretty deep team,” said Minchenko, a 31-year-old carpenter and father of two. “We only lost three players from last year. We have some rookies like Kaden Doughty and Jacob Brewer pushing the veterans for sure. We’ve got lots of athleticism. The biggest takeaway (from the Ice Breaker) is that we need to move the ball more effectively. We had lots of dropped balls. We need to clean that up and that’s our (coaches) job.”
Minchenko, a 2004 Fulton grad, played five years with the Tigers before joining the Senior Vernon Royals. He helped head coach Chris Scabar last year and will be assisted by Casey Sherriff and Braden Barr.
The Tigers grounded the Armstrong Shamrocks 7-5 Saturday morning before dispatching the South Okanagan Flames 8-5 in a matinee tilt. Vernon toppled the defending Thompson Okanagan league champion Kamloops Venom 8-5 in the final of the four-team affair.
The Flames doused the Shamrocks 6-3 in the consolation final. The teams played three 15-minute running periods in each game.
Jordy Barr, who was injured much of last season, supplied four goals as the Tigers defeated the Venom. Eric Reid, with 1+2, and fellow vets Thomas Landels, Steele Pelletier and Thomas Mackiewich also converted.
Conor Webb and Reid also pocketed a deuce as the Tigers stopped the Irish, while Jake Pelletier fired two goals against Armstrong. The Shamrocks got 1+2 from Brayden Hoggarth.
Doughty and Barr each rang up 1+2 versus South Okanagan. Kyle McIntosh and Jordie Scherck split the Vernon netminding in all three tilts.
The Tigers open the regular season Saturday night in Kamloops, while the Shamrocks visit the Flames Monday night.