The Cowichan Valley Thunder rebounded from a rough start at the provincial midget B box lacrosse championships in Burnaby last weekend to bring home bronze medals.
The Thunder’s first opponents at the provincial tournament were the Saanich Tigers, who finished third on the Island behind Cowichan and Oceanside. The Thunder weren’t prepared for what the Tigers brought to the game.
“I think we thought we were going to win before we even stepped on the floor,” Cowichan head coach Brayden Zunti said.
Learning from that loss, the Thunder went on a roll, beating Delta 8-6, Coquitlam 9-1 and West Kootenay 12-3 to advance to the playoffs. In the crossover game, Cowichan lost 6-3 to a strong Prince George team that would go on to beat Oceanside in the gold-medal game.
The third-place game gave Cowichan a chance to both play for a medal and get some revenge over Saanich. The Tigers were missing their goalie, who was suspended for an incident in the crossover game, and had to dress a player in net for the bronze-medal match, which Cowichan won 14-2.
“It definitely wasn’t a fast-paced game,” Zunti said. “But it’s always good to win a medal in provincials.”
SEE MORE: Midget B Thunder capture playoff lacrosse banner
Xander McCaffery was named Cowichan’s recipient of the Warrior Fair Play Award, and Kalum Lachance was picked for the tournament all-star team. Zunti called out goalie Jackson Owen for his invaluable contributions to the team.
“He played lights-out pretty much every game,” the coach said. “Without him, we wouldn’t have been where we were in the tournament.”
Devyn Zunti was named the Zone 6 Player of the Year, an award his older brother, Brayden, won in 2015.
“It’s kinda cool for him to follow in my footsteps,” Brayden said. “Hopefully he’ll get drafted this year and we can play in the same league next year.”
SEE MORE: Cowichan’s Zunti wins lacrosse gold with Zone 6 at BC Games
Brayden, who is playing for the junior B Tier 2 Cowichan Valley Thunder, has agreed to play for the junior A Delta Islanders next season, and Devyn will be eligible for the 2018 B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League Draft in January.
Seven players from the midget B team are aging out of minor lacrosse this year: Lachance, Devyn Zunti, Wade Mason, Dante Evans, Brandon Carlson, Dawsen Foreman and Jeremy Benson.
kevin.rothbauer@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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