By Jackson Starr
The Minto Cup national junior ‘A’ lacrosse championship begins this evening in Coquitlam, B.C., and despite promising early hopes this season, the core players who helped the Nepean Knights win the Canadian Jr. ‘B’ crown two seasons ago aren’t there, largely victims of paperwork problems and boardroom battles.
A number of local players produced standout 2024 seasons in Ontario Junior ‘A’ Lacrosse League play, but it’s the drawn-out off-floor drama that dominated the campaign, although in some ways, the seeds for the trouble were planted earlier.
After capturing Nepean’s first-ever Founders Cup in 2022, head coach/co-owner Matt Firth’s dream was to have the Knights move up and chase championships at the Jr’ ‘A’ level.
But his bid for an expansion franchise in the Ontario Jr. ‘A’ league was denied. League rules required that 90% of franchises approve a new club, and two of the current 11 clubs voted against Nepean’s inclusion.
So instead, the Nepean Jr. ‘B’ club became an affiliate of the Toronto Beaches Jr. ‘A’ team, which gave Nepean players the chance to play together at the province’s top level of play.
“We chose to affiliate with one team to maintain the team camaraderie, culture and bond that our athletes enjoy and have,” Firth explains. “Many have been playing together since they were five years old. They play lacrosse in large part because of the friendships they have built.”
Seven Nepean players moved to Toronto this season, joining several other Knights products who were already with the club, including leading scorer Willem Firth, Matt’s son. The lineup proved powerful, as Toronto jumped out to an 8-0 start in the 20-game OJLL regular season, punctuated by a 13-6 victory over top rival Orangeville on June 9.
But then the wheels came flying off. After the game, Orangeville complained to the league about Toronto player eligibility, having spotted a clerical roster error.
The new players from Nepean hadn’t been entered as “affiliated players” (which would have been permitted under league rules), but instead were classified as “direct releases” (and clubs are only allowed to acquire three players per season through that method).
What followed was a spectacular web of protests, appeals, tribunals, improper filings, fines, questions of authority, rights to attend hearings, whether those hearings should have taken place, and plenty more.
The conflicts continued throughout the season, but the end verdict was that the initial penalties imposed by the league ultimately stood: Toronto had to forfeit its first eight wins of the season, and only the first three Nepean players who were input as direct releases were allowed to play for Toronto for the rest of the year.
Tyler Renner, Owen Wills and Thomas Kiazyk were in, while 2023 Nepean leading scorer Liam Aston, Isaac Wills, Connor Nock and Owen Tasse were not allowed to play for Toronto, Nepean or any other Ontario junior club that year because of the error.
“This all could have been prevented and comes down to a different interpretation of a rule,” Matt Firth underlines. “The punishment was centred on the team and clearly intended to disadvantage the Beaches for the remainder of the season and give advantage to other teams in the league.
”Orangeville moved into first place because of the forfeited games.”
Matt Firth was very displeased about how the affair was handled by the league’s leadership, which includes a former Orangeville general manager and father of a current Orangeville assistant coach, he notes.
“It’s just really filthy and disappointing,” he adds. “The principal point is that local talented lacrosse players are getting screwed over.”
Willem Firth says the Toronto athletes tried to stay focused and tune out the off-floor developments.
“But as players, you can only do so much when you hear about what’s going on,” he indicates. “There’s just a lot of wondering. We just didn’t know what was going on.”
Willem was especially gutted when his former Nepean teammates were forced to leave the club, and had to join teams from outside the province in order to continue playing this season.
“That’s pretty terrible. Those guys are some of, if not my best friends,” Willem highlights. “The most disappointing was how excited we were to all be able to play on the same team and organization again, like growing up.
“It’s difficult when you don’t have a Jr. ‘A’ team, but you have Jr. ‘A’-calibre players and you guys all have to get separated. You want to play together as a team. It was super tough to see those guys not be able to play on our team.”
Despite the eight forfeited games, Toronto still managed to earn the final OJLL playoff position with a 9-11 record. That matched them up with first-place Orangeville, which swept the series and went on to win the Ontario title and a spot in the Minto Cup.
Lacrosse talent ‘growing in Ottawa no matter what’
Willem also would have become just the third player in OJLL history to score 100 points in three consecutive seasons – he’d hit the plateau within 13 games, but all of Toronto players’ points accumulated in the first eight games weren’t counted in official statistics.
Another casualty was a Toronto home game that was set to be played in Nepean, which would have offered the chance for Ottawa to show its support for Jr. ‘A’ lacrosse and celebrate the local talent playing for Toronto. That planned June 30 contest at Howard Darwin Arena was ultimately scrapped amid the battles, which are still ongoing to sort out fines, suspensions and more.
Also gone with it all is the enthusiasm to pursue a Jr. ‘A’ lacrosse team for the nation’s capital.
“Let’s put it this way, it’s dampened my appetite to join that league when we see how poorly our players are treated,” Matt Firth says. “I get the sense that the Jr. ‘A’ league regards not just Ottawa, but eastern Ontario, including Akwesasne and Kahnawake, as a talent pool from which they can pull players.
“It’s just a shame for local athletes when there isn’t an opportunity – because they’re capable of playing (at the Jr. ‘A’ level). We’re bringing an NLL team here (the Ottawa Black Bears are set to join the National Lacrosse League this fall), and that’s going to foster more growth in the sport.
“Like they have the luxury of doing in southern Ontario, the kids should have a 15-minute drive to the rink where they can play Jr. ‘A’ lacrosse, not a five-hour drive.”
There will still be Ottawa sprinkles present at the Minto Cup. Defender Connor Nock went on to join the host Coquitlam Adanacs, who will face Orangeville in the final game of the round robin on Aug. 19.
And Gloucester Griffins/Ottawa Capitals product Austin Lamoureux will be playing for the Port Coquitlam Saints. Lamoureux tied for second in team scoring in the regular season, and helped Port Coquitlam reach the B.C. league championship series, which was swept by Coquitlam.
“The game is growing in Ottawa no matter what, whether we have a Jr. ‘A’ team or not,” signals Willem Firth, whose older brother Sam played his first full NLL season with Las Vegas last season before being traded to Albany.
“Our culture is amazing,” adds Willem, who also plays NCAA field lacrosse at Cornell University. “There’s a lot of good coaches and good people who care about lacrosse and care about the organization. Whether we have a Jr. ‘A’ team or not, we’re still going to continue to make very good players just because of how much people care.”
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