The Lakeland Jr. B Heat have claimed the silver medal to end the season.
The team made it all the way to the finals but lost to the Cranbrook Blackwolves 11-7 at the end. Head coach Daryl Hodinsky says the team worked really hard and a silver medal is “not a medal you frown upon.”
In the round-robin, the Heat battled hard, winning 7-5 win over the Calgary Wranglers, a loss to the eventual gold medal winners Cranbrook Blackwolves, and a double-overtime loss to the Lloyd Xtreme 10-9. Hodinsky says the team played really well all weekend.
“To ask these young men and our one young lady to play as hard as they did for four games in three days is amazing in itself. We played fantastic lacrosse this weekend. I can not say enough about the team and how hard they worked all year long.”
Round-robin formats are different with goal differential being a critical difference between who plays for the top podium spot game. The Heat’s ticket was only earned in the last seconds of the game against Calgary.
The Heat’s roster will only see one player graduate next year and Hodinsky says the team is coming back stronger.
“We started the season at one level and then finished at a completely different one. The team is already looking forward to next year and bringing home gold. We are going to be hungry next year and make sure no one can touch us.”
Hodinsky says next year’s championship title has the Heat’s name on it.
