Junior B’s roll on
There appears to be no stopping the St. Catharines WMKL Athletics.
The Athletics lead the Ontario Lacrosse Association Junior B West Division (South) standings with a 14-0-1 record and head coach Alec Tamas sees no reason the team will slow down now.
“We have only a handful of games left until the playoffs and we’re just looking to continue to build and get better and continue to roll,” Tamas said.
The A’s caught a bit of a break off the floor when an earlier loss to London was reversed due to a forfeit which gave the A’s the two points.
“Our record is looking really good right now,” Tamas said. “We got fortunate to get the win back which leaves us undefeated and in a good spot going down the stretch.”
With only five games remaining in the regular season, Tamas and his staff have been careful in how they prepare the team .
“It’s always difficult to manage,” he said. “You want to push them, want to be hard on them, but at the same time we’ve been doing so well and having so much success you don’t want to come across as nagging and a hard ass.
“We try and use some of these games as opportunities to try new things, whether it be different systems or different plays. We’re always trying to present our players with different challenges game in and game out as the games get more important.”
Scoring hasn’t been a problem so far with seven players in double digits led by Jaden Patterson who has 21 goals and 100 points through 15 games.
“Jaden just scored his 100th point which is something that hasn’t been done in our junior B program in a really long time,” Tamas said. “It was pretty incredible to see. He’s a great leader our there and a guy we really do rely on and lean on a lot. His ability to spread the ball around and other guy’s abilities to get him open and get themselves open has been incredible to see.”
Tamas said there have been plenty of balls to go around.
“We’ve got so much depth this year capable of putting the ball in the net,” he said. “Starting on our back end, we have the ability to push transition, all of our guys up front are able to score and our chemistry has been unbelievable and unselfishness on offence has been incredible to watch.
“There are no me guys on the team, all spread the ball around and everyone gets their touches.”
Veterans Ben Smellie and Owen Faris have anchored the defence.
“We really rely on them, they are out steady rocks back there,” Tamas said.
Tamas said the rest of the defence has excelled as well.
“It’s a team effort, that’s something we’ve been preaching all year,” he said. “It’s always defence by committee. They have all been great.”
Mike Napoli has started 12 of the 15 games and been outstanding with a 5.62 goals-against average.
“Mike Napoli has been great. He’s had a phenomenal season,” Tamas said.
The club recently added Josh Swift from Cambridge as a back up.
“He accepts his role and we have a great 1-2 combination in net now,” Tamas said.
The A’s are in Hamilton Thursday and Wallaceburg Friday.
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