Lakeland Heat finish great season on losing note at Provincials

Assistant coach Daryl Hodinsky congratulates graduating player Allen Wareham at the end of the bronze medal match at Jr. B lacrosse Provincials. 

The Junior B lacrosse season is over and the Lakeland Heat returned with a 4th place finish.

The Lakeland Heat relied on consistency all throughout the regular season but seemed frustrated at Provincials.

The Heat finished first in the North East division with a 13-2-1 record, swept the Parkland Posse in straight games 6-4 and 10-4, but went winless at the final tournament in four games.

“We deserved to be here. I don’t think we played our games that we should’ve. I think we could’ve had a better showing,” said head coach Dennis Hodinsky.

“We had a good showing in the last third period, we picked it up and showed what we can do. We’ll work on that next year. It was nice to see some of the south teams come down and see what they can do down there. They play a slightly different style, so it’s always nice to see something different,” he said.

Heat seemed frustrated after delay

In some ways, it was a blue moon tournament.

In the North Final against host Sherwood Park, a slippery floor caused by the stormy weather outside created a lot of moisture in the building and the footing of the players became an issue.

The Heat led Sherwood Park Titans at the time of the delay 5-3 in an exciting back-and-forth contest with 8:26 remaining in the second period.

The Heat had led by as many as four goals thanks to a great start by Mitchell Bibeau, who was later handed the award for most points in the regular season (82 pts), a pair of goals by Austin Carrick, who had a terrific tournament and tremendous goaltending from Tyler Wareham.

However, from the delay on – the Heat seemed to become less in-sync on offense, missing passes by centimetres and coming away with fewer shot attempts in the offensive zone than the regular-season edition of the Heat did.

Penalties became an issue as these lapses compounded into deeper mistakes.

The Heat just didn’t look themselves.

 

The Heat trailed 8-5 but somehow rallied to score three goals in two minutes to tie the game.

The Titans finished the job though with a crushing ninth goal and a clincher with seconds remaining that sealed the North Final victory for Sherwood Park.

That was the only tournament game played at the Strathcona Olmpiette Centre before the tournament moved to the Jubilee Recreation Centre in Fort Saskatchewan.

The Sylvan Lake Yettis, eventual gold medal winners, got an early lead they rode to a comfortable win in the Lakeland Heat’s second round-robin game.

Mitchell Bibeau scored a hat-trick, Aaron Goulet netted a pair, and Isaac Brown, Austin Carrick, and Taras Hodinsky added markers in the 13-8 loss.

The Yettis offensive attack was the strongest at the tournament. Constant motion and ball screens created waves of attack. They finished with almost twice as many shots than the Heat.

With the loss, the Heat were destined for the bronze medal match against the High River Heat.

But similar lapses would end up costing the Heat a medal in a 15-8 loss.

Lacrosse is a family affair

Perhaps one of the reasons the Heat have are a powerhouse is the strong lacrosse bloodlines.

On this year’s team, there were three sets of brothers: Ethan and Isaac Brown, Taras and Tristan Hodinsky, and Allen and Tyler Wareham.

Allen Wareham is one of the two graduating players from this team along with late-season addition Joey Janvier.

“It was nice to finish the career at Provincials. It was kind of a shame that we couldn’t place a medal, but I feel like we all play as a team and we finished strong during the year,” Allen said.

His brother Tyler, standout netminder who often was the Heat’s best player on the floor, said it was a nice experience playing his older brother.

“We don’t get along the best, but it’s nice getting a ride to the rink. It’s always nice I got my brother on the team and we can have laughs,” Tyler said.

Allen added: “I’ve been shooting against him for three years now in Junior and at home in times in between, so it’s been a nice long career with my brother here.”

Ethan Brown is optimistic for next season when he and his brother could have another great chance at medalling at Provincials with a strong crop of midget players ready to move up into the Junior B.

“We have a midget team that won gold at Provincials this year and we’ve got a lot of young talent coming up. We’re going to be a lot better next year and hopefully come out and blow some teams up at Provincials a year from now,” said Brown.