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The Brantford Warriors Junior C lacrosse team is gearing up to open their regular season later this month.
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“Looks like it’s going to be a young, fast team,” said Warriors president Louis Vilez, whose team made several preseason runs before holding its first official tryout on Sunday.
He noted that Brantford’s bench staff includes returning head coach Shawn Witzell, as well as Aaron Wilmott, Lucas Nagy and Ed Comeau.
“There is going to be a learning curve, but with a great coaching staff in place, we believe they can develop the kids to the level they need.”
The last time there was an Ontario Junior C Lacrosse League season was in 2019.
This season, Brantford, the 2017 Meredith Cup provincial champion, topped the West Division with a 13-3 record but were swept by Fergus in the second round of the playoffs.
And then the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the 2020 and 21 seasons.
Vilez said the upcoming season was uncertain until the end of January.
“That’s when we were told to have an action plan and we were going to have a season.”
Soon after, the Hamilton Bengals, Brantford’s junior B affiliate, contacted the Warriors and arranged several preseason runs. These races, held at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena on Six Nations of the Grand River, also included potential Burlington Chiefs Junior A players.
“The coaches were very happy with what they saw,” Vilez said,
Off the pitch, Vilez and the rest of the organization have been busy finding sponsors and looking for people to help them out on game day.
“So far we’ve had a positive response from sponsors, but we can always use more,” he said. “And we can use more volunteers.”
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Vilez said Brantford may attract some players who were dropped from Hamilton’s Junior B trials, as well as players from that organization’s intermediate program.
“We think there’s going to be a lot of young guys this year, guys who’ve aged into the midget,” he said, adding that Oakville and Caledon won’t have Junior C teams this season. therefore players could also come from these regions. .
It won’t be the first time the Warriors have gone young. When the team was formed in 2016, one of the main reasons was that local midget players who had left the Brantford Minor Lacrosse Association program would have a place to play at home.
The current executive will get another look at potential players on Sunday as the team plays in Wilmot’s Wild West Shootout. Brantford will face Wilmot at 9 a.m., Six Nations Stealth at 12:30 p.m. and Barrie Bombers at 3 p.m.
All games will take place at the Queensmount Arena in Kitchener.
There will be another tryout on April 13 from 7-9 p.m. at the Civic Center before the team’s first official practice on April 20.
Brantford’s regular season opener is April 22 at 8 p.m. at the Civic Center against the Six Nations.
The Warriors will play home games at the Civic Center on Fridays, with a game on a Sunday in May. The regular season ends for Brantford on June 25 with a game in Orangeville, with the playoffs to follow.
Visit www.tinyurl.com/y3f48tfx for more league information or the team’s Facebook page – @brantfordjrclacrosse – for more Warriors news.