Junior lacrosse in Kelowna is back with a bang

Contrary to what many believe, lacrosse is the original national sport in Canada, not hockey.

Canvassing through small communities in the country, you wouldn’t know it, as hockey tends to take precedence over every other sport.

Lacrosse, however, has been a vital vein in youth sports development for years. Its season is immediately following hockey, and its physicality used to resemble the olden days of rock 'em sock 'em hockey.

It's nice to see The Great One playing Canada's 'original' national sport of LACROSSE so well ! YES, LACROSSE before HOCKEY: go ask the curator at The Hockey Hall of Fame and he'll tell you that lacrosse was declared Canada's national sport in 1867 long before hockey! https://t.co/4mwEFrwk6b

— Tim Murdoch (@McGilllaxcoach) February 6, 2022

The Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League (TOJLL) is the governing body of junior lacrosse throughout the Okanagan. Junior lacrosse is the bumper division between minor (16 and under) and senior (21+).

It is one of two Tier 1 Junior B box lacrosse leagues sanctioned by the BC Lacrosse Association in the province. It was founded in 2000, and at that time, two Kelowna based teams were formed, the Kelowna Braves and Kelowna Dragons, along with a Rutland based club.

However, the team and league struggled with continuity, with numerous squads having to forfeit matches due to insufficient number of players.

The two Kelowna teams amalgamated to become the Kelowna Warriors in 2006.

Then, the Warriors were merged into the Rutland team, to become the Kelowna Raiders in 2011.

A steady decrease in quality of play was punctuated in the 2017 season, where the Raiders became the first team in history to be pointless through the regular season, with a 0-16 season.

The next year, the team ceased operations, due to a whole host of factors, including participation issues and a rough and tumble nature of play that was unbecoming for new fans.

While the minor league Kelowna Kodiaks program was alive and well- under the banner of the Kelowna Minor Lacrosse Association (KMLA)- the junior and senior teams were non-existent in the Kelowna area.

Current Kodiaks general manager and governor Jamie MacGregor, was disheartened back in 2018, when his son Colin was aging out of minor lacrosse and was unable to continue his career in the city.

"My son in particular was one of the ones who aged up and had nowhere to play, so he played in Penticton (for the South Okanagan Flames). There were easily eight kids from his age group that had nowhere to play and didn't want to commit to driving there every week."

So, for the 2019 season, there were a group of 18-19 kids raring to go, but, as rosters are typically carrying upwards of 25 kids (18 skaters on bench plus two goalies), a team was unable to rev back up.

So, under the guidance of MacGregor and the board members of the KMLA, a team was crafted under the umbrella of the minor league organization, as a way to combine the volunteer help for both programs.

"Everyone who volunteers for (KMLA) has a kid playing, and a handful of us were seeing our kids aging up," MacGregor explained. "We saw a need, and then, those who volunteer are acutely aware that there are only so many volunteers to go around."

"So, creating a whole new entity would have taken four or five of us from Kelowna minor into the junior program so we would be thinning the volunteer ranks from minor and junior."

"Being able to utilize the structure of the KMLA to to support Kelowna junior really seemed to make sense to us and so far it has. Some of the kids, they look up to kids playing junior, wearing the same jersey as them, so it's pretty cool (to see that)."

Despite COVID wiping out two years, by 2021, the new-look Kelowna Junior B Kodiaks had a team and a name. All they needed was a coach.

Enter Andrew Garant.

Garant has an extensive playing career, most notably with the the Langley Thunder of the BC Junior A league. He was drafted in the NLL by the Vancouver Stealth in 2017, and is now an assistant captain for the senior Kelowna Raiders. (KelownaNow did a story on the Raiders last month, which you can find here.)

“I can't overstate how important it was to have a new voice of a very qualified player himself," said MacGregor.

"It is hard to dispute or not take seriously the direction of a guy that everyone on the floor knows is the best player on the floor. You know, vs. a 50 year old telling them what to do, it lands a little differently right? He has brought a really strong culture to the team.”

In addition to a new coach, the Kodiaks have embraced a new style of play. Out with the old rough and ragged fighting style, and in with the fast, exciting and skilled quality of play.

“I think if we go back five years pre-COVID, the senior and junior league were both kind of the rough and rowdy lacrosse of the past," MacGregor explained.

"But we are sort of trying to distance ourselves from it as lacrosse is a great game. It's fast, skilled and exciting. Certainly as a league, the TOJLL has been really trying to keep things that way and crack down on the funny stuff that does not need to be dominating in the game."

The league itself has revamped its rules to enact escalating penalties for multiple fights and misconducts.

"We have coaches this year thinking about the outcome three weeks, four weeks down the road," MacGregor said.

"If some of the top players have a couple of misconducts, and they take one at a key moment, then they are gone for a couple of games, so (the coaches) are thinking about what is going to happen."

So, gone are the days of showing up half-drunk to a fighting brawl to see a lacrosse game break out.

Now, the skill of the sport will be on display more than ever, which is vital to the growth of the league.

Plus, you may get to see jaw-dropping goals, like the one Garant pulled a couple of years ago.

Last summer, during a little sliver in relaxed pandemic regulations, the TOJLL put on a mini-tournament, dubbed the 'COVID Cup' which represented the first opportunity ever for the Kodiaks to play in competitive action.

How did they end up performing?

Oh, they just went 4-0, to win the Cup, and finish the tournament with the least amount of penalty minutes.

Not a bad start to the history of the Kelowna Kodiaks.

This year, a full 16-game season is rolling along, as the TOJLL has five committed teams (Flames, Kodiaks, Kamloops Venom, Armstrong Shamrocks and Vernon Tigers).

While there are still a couple of problems regarding attendance (the Flames had to forfeit their game against the Tigers last weekend due to not having enough players), it is safe to say that the league is in its best place ever.

The next Kodiaks home game is Saturday, May 14 against the South Okanagan Flames. Face-off is set for 7 pm from Memorial Arena.

You can buy tickets to the game at the gate, and they are only $5.

Click here for more details on the team, and here for additional information on the TOJLL.