Arthur Aces are World Champions!!
2022-08-15
2022 World Champion Arthur Aces
They’ve formed an athletic juggernaut that is, at this point, proven unbeatable. They can give as well as they can take. They are invested, dominant.
In any other year, this Grand River Attack team would have added their name to the league champs list. They were playing their game, timely goals, crushing defence, and stifling goaltending. They had some surprises in the regular season, but kept that Attack machine on track. You could feel them building through this year’s championship tournament, waiting to peak at that final moment on Sunday. Like Attack teams are known to do. But they ran into Arthur on Sunday afternoon, and the league champ Aces were waiting for them.
The two teams had played their league tilt early in the season in Hamilton. It was a close, intense game, but only until the Aces put it out of reach in the 3rd. Final score: Arthur 5 Grand River 3. We all knew it wouldn’t be the only game these two teams would play against each other this year, and we were all hoping for that dramatic meeting, between the old favourite, the long-storied team versus the defending champ Aces, no longer the upstarts. So they met Sunday afternoon at Oshawa’s Delpark Community Center.
Let’s say something about this Aces team. They haven’t lost since June 22nd 2019, and guess who they lost to: yup, the Grand River Attack. But the next day, in the Becky Smith Memorial, the Aces got that one back in the tournament final by beating the Attack 4-3. Since then, Arthur has gone on to 27 straight wins!. Other than that tournament blip in 2019 they ran the table that year and they ran the table this year.
Arthur came into the league playing the same style they play today. Where they are is no fluke. 5-up and down, run-and-gun, full floor pressing, superb goaltending – they do it all. As one coach admiringly remarked yesterday, they play “the right way.” You can thank the Holinsheads for that, Reg and Donna, and the rest of the bench Tim Price, Rob Howey, and Amanda Howey. They’ve formed an athletic juggernaut that has, at this point, proven unbeatable. They can give as well as they can take. They are invested, dominant.
The League Championship game was close for precisely one period. Then the Aces went on yet another crushing second period run, scoring 5 goals. 12 players got on the scoresheet, that is how balanced their offence is. Their defence is just as dominant as the goalie tandem of Price and Howey had an astounding goals against average of a little over one. That means everyone is contributing, right across the board.
The final was an anti-climatic 6-1 in favour of Arthur. Hats off to Grand River, they came to play, they weren’t blasted out of the arena by any means, but they ran into an Arthur team that isn’t playing favourites. Arthur Aces are the best team in the best woman’s box lacrosse league in the world – truly world champions!
The two teams had played their league tilt early in the season in Hamilton. It was a close, intense game, but only until the Aces put it out of reach in the 3rd. Final score: Arthur 5 Grand River 3. We all knew it wouldn’t be the only game these two teams would play against each other this year, and we were all hoping for that dramatic meeting, between the old favourite, the long-storied team versus the defending champ Aces, no longer the upstarts. So they met Sunday afternoon at Oshawa’s Delpark Community Center.Let’s say something about this Aces team. They haven’t lost since June 22nd 2019, and guess who they lost to: yup, the Grand River Attack. But the next day, in the Becky Smith Memorial, the Aces got that one back in the tournament final by beating the Attack 4-3. Since then, Arthur has gone on to 27 straight wins!. Other than that tournament blip in 2019 they ran the table that year and they ran the table this year.
Arthur came into the league playing the same style they play today. Where they are is no fluke. 5-up and down, run-and-gun, full floor pressing, superb goaltending – they do it all. As one coach admiringly remarked yesterday, they play “the right way.” You can thank the Holinsheads for that, Reg and Donna, and the rest of the bench Tim Price, Rob Howey, and Amanda Howey. They’ve formed an athletic juggernaut that has, at this point, proven unbeatable. They can give as well as they can take. They are invested, dominant.
The League Championship game was close for precisely one period. Then the Aces went on yet another crushing second period run, scoring 5 goals. 12 players got on the scoresheet, that is how balanced their offence is. Their defence is just as dominant as the goalie tandem of Price and Howey had an astounding goals against average of a little over one. That means everyone is contributing, right across the board.The final was an anti-climatic 6-1 in favour of Arthur. Hats off to Grand River, they came to play, they weren’t blasted out of the arena by any means, but they ran into an Arthur team that isn’t playing favourites. Arthur Aces are the best team in the best woman’s box lacrosse league in the world – truly world champions!