By Dan Marshall

St. Albert beats Nanaimo 10-8 in overtime to capture third straight President’s Cup

Sep 2, 2018 | 9:39 PM

NANAIMO — The St. Albert Miners are Senior B lacrosse President’s Cup winners for a third straight year.  

They beat the Nanaimo Timbermen 10-8 in overtime in a fantastic final in front of a sold out crowd.

The lead would change hands multiple times on the night including a three goal run to open the game for St. Albert.

Nanaimo clawed back on a natural hat trick from Jeff Shattler to even the score at 3-3 early in the second.

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The Timbermen outscored the Miners 5-3 in the second period including a four goal run that featured two goals by Jordan Cunningham and singles by Cory Conway and Corey Shires.

It was 7-6 Nanaimo after two periods setting up a dramatic third.

Shane Chalker had the only tally for the Tmen and Mike Triolo scored a pair to send the game to OT at 8-8.

Triolo was a massive story in the game.  

He had the overtime winner, finished with four goals and was named the St. Albert game MVP.

Goalie Nick Patterson was Nanaimo’s Most Valuable Player with 54 saves, numerous in tight and on some of the best shooters in Senior B lacrosse.

Keegan Bal was one of those big shooters who tallied a hat trick for the Miners, on two of his goals he was airborne flying through the crease.

Nanaimo won their first President’s Cup medal since 2002 when they took home bronze in Edmonton.

The last Nanaimo team to win the Cup was the 1969 Nanaimo Luckies.

Many of the players from that ’69 team were in attendance all week at an event that featured eight teams and 36 games.

On floor reaction after the final seconds of the gold medal game.

The buzz around the tournament from many out of town guest was that Nanaimo had put on one of the best President’s Cup in recent memory.

The Timbermen, with president Shawn Swanson at the helm, as well as the Snuneymuxw first nation were credited with putting on a well run event on and off the floor.

Swanson was blown away by the way the tournament came together.

“I’m ecstatic to see the amount of fans and the volunteers every day – some of them putting in 18 hour days,” said Swanson. “It just shows they’re (the fans) backing us and they want us to win.”

Many of the executives and volunteers from Nanaimo Minor Lacrosse over the course of the week talked about the huge interest in President’s Cup 2018, hoping that will translate into more kids signing up to the play the sport in 2019.

What the legacy of the President’s Cup will be isn’t known yet, but the crowds at Frank Crane Arena this week showed Nanaimo is indeed a lacrosse town.

dan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On twitter: @danmarshall77