Bowden-area resident Marshall Bloomfield says he learned a lot this year, playing Junior A lacrosse for the Okotoks Raiders — including in the Minto Cup, the national Junior A lacrosse championship. The Minto Cup was held Aug.
Bowden-area resident Marshall Bloomfield says he learned a lot this year, playing Junior A lacrosse for the Okotoks Raiders — including in the Minto Cup, the national Junior A lacrosse championship.
The Minto Cup was held Aug. 15-26 this year in Langley, B.C.
The 18-year-old had a great tournament, picking up seven assists, and was named MVP during a game against the Orangeville Northmen, where he got four of those assists.
The Raiders did well, but ended up in third place, losing 12-8 in overtime to the Victoria Shamrocks.
Interestingly enough, during tournament play, the Raiders beat those same Shamrocks 13-10, becoming the franchise's first edition to beat a non-Alberta team in Junior A nationals.
The Orangeville Northmen went on to win the cup, sweeping the Shamrocks in a best-of-five championship series.
Bloomfield was the first overall pick of the Olds Mavericks last year, after they moved up to Tier I from Tier II. The Calgary Mountaineers Junior A team also drafted him that year.
Bloomfield started out playing for the Mavericks before joining the Mountaineers. The Mountaineers traded him to the Okotoks Raiders earlier this spring.
He scored two goals and collected 13 assists for 15 points in 10 games.
Having done well in Junior A, Bloomfield says he's decided to continue playing for the Raiders and not to go back to Junior B. (He notes they play out of the Max Bell Centre in Calgary, so he doesn't have to drive all the way to and from Okotoks).
Bloomfield did find it a big step up from Junior B to Junior A.
"(It's) way faster, way more skill," he says.
Bloomfield says he started every game with the Raiders, a pretty major accomplishment, seeing as he estimates they scratch seven to 10 players per game.
Not only was Junior A a big step up, but Bloomfield says the level of competition in the Minto Cup was even higher. On top of that, he had to get used to playing out of province against teams he'd never encountered before.
"When you go and start playing new teams, you don't know how they play, how their defence plays and you've got to adjust to that," he says.
Given his experience this year in Junior A and at the Minto Cup level, Bloomfield has a few ideas on how he can improve his play between now and spring when the next season begins.
"Definitely just stepping up and adjusting to everything faster I guess, and then getting used to playing in close games against close teams." he says.
