Orangeville Banner
Register User
Close

Local athletes competing at Midget Nationals
Friday August 22 2008
By MIKE RAWN Banner Staff Writer
 
Three local athletes will represent Ontario at the 2008 Midget Nationals lacrosse tournament in Calgary, Aug. 22 to 27.
Dylan Dempster, Cody McMahon and Brett Ritchie will represent Team Ontario at the tournament, held in conjunction with the Minto Cup Junior A national championship. Ritchie made the team as a first-year midget player.
“It’s pretty exciting for the kids to get to fly to Calgary and play against the top players in the country,” Team Ontario assistant coach Bob McMahon, an Orangeville resident, says. “It’s a major accomplishment, and for Brett to make it as a minor midget is impressive.”
All three local players have experience from prior national championships. McMahon and Ritchie played at the peewee and bantam provincials; Dempster played two years ago at the bantam provincials, where he won a bronze medal.
“I’ll know what to expect this time around,” Dempster says. “It’s a great experience. It’s cool playing against the different provinces. The talent level is really good.”
“It’s great they have that experience,” McMahon says. “We have 14 kids on our team that are brand new to it.”
McMahon says approximately 10 to 12 of the better players in the province weren’t able to try out for the team, because the tournament conflicted with their Ontario Hockey League training camps.
“We aren’t favoured to win gold,” McMahon admits. “Fortunately, Ontario has so much depth in lacrosse that we’ve got a really talented team. We’ll definitely be aiming for a gold medal.”
British Columbia and the Iroquois Nationals promise to be the toughest competition at the tournament.
With players on the Ontario team from 11 different centres, it was difficult to get together for practices. The team met for three weekends over the course of the summer, and packed in as much practice time as possible.
“We gelled pretty quick,” Dempster says about Team Ontario. “I knew a few of the guys that were on the team from two years ago. Everyone gets along really well.”
Northmen
After helping the Orangeville midget Northmen to a silver medal at the recent provincial championship, Dempster is hoping for a different medal in Calgary.
“From everything I’ve heard we’re not going to be the favourites,” he says. “But we’ve got a really good team, and we want the gold medal.”
Ritchie agreed with his teammate.
“I feel we have a very good team that is deep with speed and skill,” he says. “The main competition will come from Team B.C., Team Alberta, and Team Iroquois. Our goal is to win the gold medal.”