Note: This is the second of a three-part series produced by Jason Donville featuring the top high school players in Canada in the Classes of 2012, 2013 and 2014. Today, we feature the Class or 2013 juniors. Check back tomorrow for Donville’s take of the Canadian Class of 2014 sophomores.

1. Joe French – Attack – Mimico/St Michaels – Georgetown – The best players in the game perform best when the stakes are the highest. Joe French led Team Ontario in scoring at the 2011 Nationals and many of his goals came at key moments during the tournament.

2. Tyler Pace – Midfield – Port Coquitlam/Blue Ridge – Denver – Tyler Pace is a superb two-way player who has tremendous vision. Pace is also strong on ground balls and a leader in the dressing room. Denver nabs another high impact Canuck! 

3. Drew Dziadyk – Attack – Saskatoon – Uncommitted – Dziadyk is the best “uncommitted” attack in Canada. He was outstanding for Team Saskatchewan and voted to the all-tournament team at the 2011 Nationals. Dziadyk is big, has great hands and makes smart decisions around the cage. He is the best attack to come out of Saskatchewan since former Cornell standout David Mitchell.

4. Brendan Bomberry – Attack – Six Nations – Uncommitted – Bomberry scored 42 points for the Six Nations Arrows as 17 year old and has an equally nice touch around the field nets. He reminds many scouts of Johnny Powless.

5. Stuart Smith – Goalie – Victoria – Uncommitted – Smith has an unorthodox style and is therefore a bit of a work in progress. However, there is no doubt that he was outstanding at the 2011 Nationals. Smith is big, courageous and an excellent shot stopper. He gets my vote for MVP at the 2011 U-16 Nationals!

6. Shane Simpson – Midfielder – Hamilton – North Carolina – Simpson has rapidly emerged as one of the best midfielders in Ontario. Simpson has outstanding speed and judgment and has an excellent repertoire of dodges.

7. Ryan Myles – Defensive Midfield – Orangeville – Uncommitted – Myles is an example of a Canadian who has mastered a non-traditional position. Myles is a superb shutdown middy who has the athleticism to neutralize the other team’s top offensive threat. This kid exudes character as well.

8. Ty Klarner – Attack – Port Coquitlam – Uncommitted – Klarner is another great BC goal scorer with a tremendous work ethic. He scored 5 goals in the 2011 finals and when he is “on” he is as good as it gets offensively.

9. Jake Bomberry – Midfield – Six Nations – Uncommitted – Bomberry’s father and grandfather are already in the “Hall of Fame” and they are saving a seat for Jake. While Bomberry is small in stature he possesses unbelievable hands and vision around the net. He is a superb playmaker as well and has dominated at every level he has played since tyke.

10. Jordan Green – Midfield – Victoria/Claremont – Uncommitted – His coaches say he hasn’t figured out yet how good he is. Green has excellent agility and speed, is creative on offence and takes face-offs too!

11. Jesse Gillespie – Defense – Ridge Meadows – Uncommitted
12. Andrew Mullen – Defense – Toronto/St Michaels – Uncommitted
13. Michael Panowyk – Midfield – Whitby – Uncommitted
14. Reed Hnidy – Defense – Saskatoon – Uncommitted
15. Riley Glemnitz – Midfield – Ridge Meadows – Uncommitted
16. Austin Shanks – Attack – Clarington/Brewster Academy – Michigan
17. Reece Callies – Midfield – Langley – Uncommitted
18. Nolan Apers – Attack – Oakville – Uncommitted
19. Nick Nesbiit – Goalie – Burlington/Salisbury – Cornell
20. Hayden Johnstone – Goalie – Toronto Beaches/Hill Academy – Stony Brook
21. Josh Johnson – Attack – Six Nations – Uncommitted
22. Jordan Getz – Attack – Calgary – Uncommitted
23. Aaron Madaisky – Defense – South Fraser – Uncommitted
24. Dalston Day – Attack – Akwesasne – Uncommitted
25. Kyran Clarke – Attack – Port Coquitlam – Uncommitted
26. Chris George – Defense – Akwesasne – Uncommitted
27. Sean Tyrell – Attack – Calgary – Uncommitted
28. Matt Hamilton – Midfield – West Vancouver – Uncommitted
29. Zach Currier – Midfield – Peterborough – Uncommitted
30. Brad Hofmann – Defense – Delta – Uncommitted
31. Sam Murphy – Midfield – Saskatoon – Uncommitted
32. Gianni Bianchin – Midfield – Burlington – Uncommitted
33. John Pearson – Attack – Langley – Uncommitted
34. Ryan Johnston – Attack – Elora/Hill Academy – Uncommitted
35. Landon Gagner – Attack – Arizona/Brophy – Uncommitted
36. Alec Tullett – Defense – Toronto/St Georges – Uncommitted
37. Zack Miller – Midfield – Six Nations – Uncommitted
38. Liam Mulligan – Goalie – Saskatoon – Uncommitted
39. Jack Archdekin – Defense – Edmonton – Uncommitted
40. Jake Cullen – Attack – Victoria – Uncommitted
41. Brodie Jorgenson – Midfield – Saskatoon – Uncommitted
42. Justin Demarchi – Midfield – Mimico/St Michaels – Uncommitted
43. Eddie Renaud – Attack – Burlington – Uncommitted
44. Brett Kujala – Attack – Ridge Meadows – Uncommitted
45. Josh Sampson – Midfield – Halifax/Halifax West HS – Uncommitted
46. Connor Stroup – Goalie – Coquitlam – Uncommitted
47. Quinton Pavan – Defense – Port Coquitlam/Blue Ridge – Uncommitted
48. Jay Lindsay – FOGO – Burlington – Uncommitted
49. Paul Gabrielese – Midfield – Victoria – Uncommitted
50. Tony Tremblay – Midfield – Edmonton – Uncommitted  

About the Rankings

Rankings are not without controversy – the author of this article gets it. However, in the Canada Rising rankings a tremendous amount of effort has gone into the process of making these rankings as fair and objective as possible. In the preparation of this report, input was sought from leading coaches involved with the provincial U16 and U19 field lacrosse teams throughout Canada. To a lesser extent input has been sought from top Canadian and US prep school coaches and from coaches running elite travel teams in Canada. The support of these coaches has been greatly appreciated while the author of this article accepts all responsibility for any errors of accuracy or omission.

November 17, 2011
Categories: Inside The Game, Men's Field . . Author: marksy . Comments: Leave a Comment

submitteded by Jason Donville

The game of field lacrosse continues to evolve in Canada. As Inside lacrosse recently noted,the “Gold Rush” to recruit Canadian lacrosse players is well on its way and the number of Canadian men playing in the US could very well broach the 300 player level in 2012. This continued surge in the aggregate numbers of Canadians playing lacrosse in the US is the most obvious statistic that describes the changing face of Canadian lacrosse. However this “tidal wave of talent” is in itself evolving and there are really two components to this evolution that are worth noting. First, the expansion of the field game beyond Ontario and BC is producing some outstanding lacrosse talent in “under prospected” areas. Second, the development of players on the defensive side of center is significant as the depth at the defensemen and goalie positions in Canada is unprecedented. For US coaches who think they have missed the gold rush – look again. There is still plenty of undiscovered gold in the Canadian lacrosse world and the 2011 edition of Canada Rising is here to make that job a little easier.

Before we move on to the rankings it is worth noting that one of the great things about Canadian lacrosse is that once a year we bring together the top players in the country for head to head competition. This allows both fans and scouts to see which players can perform the best when challenged by the very toughest opposition that Canadian lacrosse has to offer. This year’s national field lacrosse championships in Burnaby, BC featured the largest number of teams since the tournament was changed from a club based tournament to a provincial format. It also featured two superb finals.

Team Ontario entered the 2011 National Tournament as reigning champions at both the U16 and U19 levels, although the margin of victory from the year before was a single goal in both cases. In 2011, Team BC was determined to finally wrestle away the respective cups from Ontario and put together two squads that were clearly capable of winning both championships. In the first championship final (U16) both teams battled hard with Team Ontario holding a slight lead for most of the game. However, BC slowly reeled in Team Ontario in the third quarter and entered the fourth quarter with the lead. Team Ontario fought back hard and threw a dozen shots at BC goalie Stuart Smith who was more than up to the challenge allowing, Team BC to win its first U16 championship in several years by a one goal margin.

The U19 final had a distinctively different feel than the U16 final. Team BC quickly went up 5-0 on Team Ontario before Team Ontario came roaring back. The game was tied 8-8 at halftime. The lead went back and forth in the third and fourth quarters, but clutch play by the Team Ontario midfield led by Kyle Jackson was enough to carry the day as Team Ontario hung on to a one goal margin of victory.

Besides two great finals, the Nationals once again showcased the next wave of the Canadian gold rush and no game better illustrated this point than the U19 round robin game between Team Ontario and Team Saskatchewan. On one side of the field stood Team Ontario, with most of its line-up already committed to Division I schools like Penn State, Cornell, Georgetown, Stony Brook, and North Carolina. On the other side of center stood a bunch of prairie kids with not a single NCAA Division I, II or III commit amongst them. On paper this game should have been a blowout. However, games like this are not played on paper and after one quarter Saskatchewan had the lead. At half time, Saskatchewan was still leading…it seems that someone forgot to tell these young men from Saskatoon that they didn’t have a chance against all of these NCAA bound kids from Ontario. After the third quarter, Saskatchewan was still winning and it was starting to look like one of the biggest upsets in recent Canadian field lacrosse memory. However, in the fourth quarter Ontario scored a couple of quick goals and somehow managed to claw back a 12-10 win. But don’t think for a second that Ontario was having a bad day. The lacrosse players from Saskatchewan were talented and well coached. Team Saskatchewan really was that good.

The other point worth noting from the Nationals was the evidence of the ongoing development of talent outside the area of the game that Canadians are renowned for, i.e. goal scoring. During this year’s nationals I had the privilege of watching the finals with a few recently graduated NCAA players from the Vancouver area and they noted that the biggest difference in the current edition of the Nationals is the play of the goalies and long poles. Many observers in Canada now consider players like Cornell long pole Jason Noble and Bellarmine goalie Dillon Ward not to be anomalies but the leading edge of the next Canadian gold rush.
Only time will tell.

About the Rankings

Rankings are not without controversy – the author of this article gets it. However, in the Canada Rising rankings a tremendous amount of effort has gone into the process of making these rankings as fair and objective as possible. In the preparation of this report, input was sought from leading coaches involved with the provincial U16 and U19 field lacrosse teams throughout Canada. To a lesser extent input has been sought from top Canadian and US prep school coaches and from coaches running elite travel teams in Canada. The support of these coaches has been greatly appreciated while the author of this article accepts all responsibility for any errors of accuracy or omission.

CANADA RISING – SENIOR RANKINGS (INCOMING CLASS OF 2012)

1. Warren Hill – Goalie – Six Nations/McMaster – Marquette – From Rochester to Diamond Head, Warren Hill has shown that he is a truly exceptional goalie. Scott Rodgers (the goalie coach at Marquette) has got a superb goalie to build his fledgling defensearound.

2. Kyle Jackson – Midfield – Sarnia/Hill Academy – Michigan – Jackson was the best midfielder at the 2011 National Field Championships and was arguably the key player in Team Ontario’s one goal victory over Team BC. Jackson has it all – speed, judgment, toughness, ambidexterity and character.

3. Cory Shires – Attack – Nanaimo/Claremont – Loyola – The best pure goal scorer in the senior class should have a fairly immediate and significant impact at Loyola once he gets into the rhythm of the field game.

4. Derek Searle – Defense – Hamilton – Cornell – Searle remains the top defenseman in this class. Searle is as strong as a bull, has great hands and judgment in transition and is an exceptional leader. 

5. Challen Rogers – Midfield – Coquitlam – Uncommitted – Rogers has the size of a big man and the finesse of the very best goal scorers. Rogers has tremendous athleticism and can score using either his brains or his brawn.

6. Aaron Moroney – Defense – Oshawa/Millbrook – Towson – Moroney is a superb one-on-one defender and has great speed and vision in transition. Standing at 6’3” Moroney can match-up well with attack men of all sizes.

7. T.J. Sanders – Attack – Orillia/Millbrook – Penn State – Sanders is a tall, rangy attack who loves to play from X. He’s also one of those Canadian attacks who loves to ride and can be downright nasty about it.

8. Nathan Stewart – Defense – New Westminster – Uncommitted – Stewart is the best defenseman to come out of BC since Danny McDermott. He plays mainly close defense and is very adept at causing grief (and turnovers) on opposing attackmen.

9. Seth Oakes – Attack – Akwesasne/Salmon River – Uncommitted – Oakes is a gifted player and puts up huge numbers in every league he plays in. He will be an important part of the Iroquois Team at next year’s U19 Worlds in Finland.

10. Holden Cattoni – Midfield – Calgary – Johns Hopkins – A superb box player, Cattoni’s absence from this year’s Nationals was a disappointment to many.

11. Mike Morris – Attack – Oakville/Salisbury – Johns Hopkins
12. Jordan Cunningham – Midfield – Victoria/Claremont – Uncommitted
13. Korin Sunday – Defense – Akwesasne/Salmon River – Uncommitted
14. Brennan Donville – Goalie – Oakville/The Hill School – Cornell
15. Michael Messenger – Midfield – Langley – High Point
16. Nate White – Attack – Peterborough – Stony Brook
17. Ky Tarbell – Attack – Akwesasne/Salmon River – Uncommitted
18. Ty Albrecht –Midfield – Oakville/Millbrook – Cornell
19. Max Fredrickson – Attack – Victoria/Claremont – Lehigh
20. Ty Fleury – Defense – Edmonton/Hill Academy – Uncommitted
21. Austin Thorarinson – LSM – Saskatoon – Uncommitted
22. James Rahe – Midfielder – Langley – Uncommitted
23. Zack Herreweyers – Attack – London – Loyola
24. Kanattio Adams – LSM – Akwesasne/Salisbury – Cornell
25. Stu Martin – Defense – Six Nations – Uncommitted
26. Colin Bashford – Defense – Victoria – Uncommitted
27. Ryan Fournier – Midfield – Ottawa – Uncommitted
28. Steve Caswell – Attack – Saskatoon – Uncommitted
29. Max Fredrickson – Attack – Victoria/Claremont – Uncommitted
30. Jake Withers – Midfield – Peterborough – Uncommitted
31. Eric Kimmerly – Defense – Oshawa – Uncommitted
32. Ty Barrett – Goalie – New Westminster – Uncommitted
33. Dan Williams – Defense – Hamilton – Uncommitted
34. Blaine Boomer – Midfield – Kamloops – Uncommitted
35. Dan Lomas – Attack – Burlington – High Point
36. Josh Byrne – Attack – New Westminster – Uncommitted
37. Chris Kaspar – Midfield – Victoria – Uncommitted
38. Ian Mackay – Midfield – Port Elgin – Vermont
39. Robin Lowenburger – Defense – Port Coquitlam /Charles Best – Uncommitted
40. Raymond Banister – Defense – Okotoks/Hill Academy – Uncommitted
41. Davis Rekdayl – Attack – Red Deer – Uncommitted
42. Quinn Powless – Midfield – Six Nations – Uncommitted
43. Ty Kirkby – Attack – Burnaby – Uncommitted
44. Paddie Quinn – Midfield – Halifax/Halifax West HS – Uncommitted
45. Mike Fournier – Goalie – Orangeville – Uncommitted
46. Josh Oliver – Midfield – Markham/Vermont – Quinnipiac
47. Derek Mcleod – Defense – Victoria – Uncommitted
48. Drew Deans – Defense – Calgary – Uncommitted
49. Sam Martin – Midfield – Halifax/Citadel HS – Uncommitted
50. Will Glover – Midfield – Oakville/Hill Academy – Uncommitted

November 17, 2011
Categories: Inside The Game, Men's Field . . Author: marksy . Comments: Leave a Comment

I am always one to give a big shout out for an opportunity for any of our young Canadian athletes. The challenge in the last 5 or so years is that there are so many opportunities to choose from, nobody knows what is good and what is simply false hope. And they all cost money. There are no freebies anymore.

So when a new opportunity comes along, I, along with many others (I think by human nature) usually get skeptical. And with good reason. To ease this though, one must do a little of their own investigation. With the Internet, we have at our fingertips, the ability to at a minimum, get more and more information and find out what others are saying about any Camp.

The National Invitiational 175 is a new camp being offered in upstate New York. This Camp is by invite only and they are quickly getting some very positive coverage. Among others, Inside Lacrosse has done an article on them (right here) commenting on the “impressive array of camp organizers”.

Lacrosse Recruits also included them in their Camp Guide (http://lacrosserecruits.com/recruitingcampguide.php) and had this to say:

It has the potential to become the next addition to the list of marquee recruiting showcases/camps like Jake Reed’s Nike Blue Chip or Showtime. You can see the power of the assembled group of Directors by taking a look at the list of the colleges that have already committed to attend. Big time college programs.”

It is a free registration process for the athlete, and their coach can also fill out a two minute survey on the player.

If selected, there is then a fee of $695 to attend the Camp. Before attacking the fee, first have a look at the site, and review the list of Organizers running this Camp, and then the list of Schools / Coaches attending. Then think of all of the other programs and offerings currently available to our kids and compare the cost of those. I’m not saying any one of these are better than any others. But what is the best bang for your buck?

If you are an aspiring Canadian field lacrosse player looking to get into a U.S. college / university, this might be a great opportunity to be seen.

As with everything, make sure you do your due dilignece as only you can be responsible for your success or failure. But from my seat, it looks like this one is getting some pretty immediate response and support.

Deadine to get in your free application is October 21st!

October 7, 2011
Categories: Inside The Game, Men's Field . . Author: marksy . Comments: Leave a Comment