MINTO PREVIEW: Coquitlam Adanacs

ADANACS LOOK FOR 2016 REPEAT

Previous Minto Cup Appearances: 13
Last Appearance: 2018
Championships: 3 (2010, 2016 and 2018)
Notable alumni: Christian Del Bianco (2018).

The Coquitlam Adanacs remain the gold standard when it comes to junior lacrosse in British Columbia.

The Adanacs are set to appear in their 11th consecutive Minto Cup Championships, searching for a third Junior A national title in the past four years.

Overall, the storied organization has won three Minto Cup championships, the first of which came in 2010 and then again in both 2016 and 2018.

When it comes to the BC Junior A Lacrosse League over the past six seasons, dominant does not begin to describe Coquitlam as they have compiled a record of 113-11-2 (a ridiculous .905 winning percentage) while capturing five straight regular season titles (2015-2019) and even when they finished second during the 2014 BCJALL regular season, the team rallied to win the league title and represent B.C.

During the 2019 regular season, Coquitlam finished first with a record of 17-4-0, their 34 points six points clear of second place. Offensively, the team was third in goals for (229, 10.9 per game) but No. 1 defensively (132, 6.23). And in terms of goal differential, the Adanacs were well ahead at +97.

And the Adanacs did so with a balanced attack as not one Coquitlam player cracked the top five in points.

Dennon Armstrong led the team in points with 78 (good for tied for seventh in league scoring) while Haiden Dickson was the top goal scorer, hitting the 50-goal mark (second in the league). He was second on points with 73.

The Adanacs also had Philip Buque (27 goals, 61 points), Thomas Semple (27 goals, 57 points) and Max Semple (20 goals, 48 points) all hit the 20-goal mark.

In goal, Coquitlam boasts quite the one-two punch of Cam MacLeod (6-0, 4.29 goals against average, .888 save percentage) and Nate Faccin (11-4, 7.16 GAA, .849 save percentage). They finished one-two in the league in both categories.

The team’s power play was clicking at a 40 per cent success rate while their penalty kill was successful on 59 per cent of their short-handed opportunities.

During the post-season, the Adanacs lost game one of their best-of-seven playoff series to Nanaimo before winning four of the next five games to take the series in six and earn one of the BCJALL’s two berths to the Minto Cup.