The Bantam ‘C’ Calgary Knights Lacrosse team wrapped up the season in gold with three gold medal wins in less than a month.
Four Chestermerians, team captain Zach Nicholls, Tegan Skehar, Kaiden Phan and Daniel Jones all played key roles in getting the Knights to those wins.
“Definitely a lot of good players and some good coaches that coached me and my teammates,” said twelve-year-old Jones.
The team’s championship streak started with the City Championship on June 22, was followed by the Canada Day Tournament, also played in Calgary, and finished with the Bantam C Provincials July 7 in Lethbridge.
“We did really good this year,” said Jones who prior to this season had never made it deep into the playoffs or won a lacrosse medal of any colour.
With this season over, Jones’ trophy case is getting a lot more crowded, not only with his three gold medals but also with the Canada Day Tournment MVP ring.
Jones earned that MVP ring not by what he did on the field but through the leadership he showed on the bench.
He had hurt his knee longboarding and played injured at the city championships.
“It got infected and I couldn’t walk,” said Jones.
“So, I went to the games but I coached,” he said “I was kind of like a fourth coach on our team.”
He impressed his coaches not only by being their to support the team but with the quality and effort he put in to help coach.
The season couldn’t have ended more differently than how it started.
The Knights struggled to come together to win at the start of the year.
Eventually the coaches and players came together as a team and the wins started to come.
“Our team did very well playing as a team,” said Jones who credits their successes to their ability to work together and transfer what they did in practice to their games.
In addition to the team’s success, the wins let Jones fulfill his goal this year to make it to the playoffs.
“Our team and I accomplished that,” he said.
Each gold medal game came with its owns set of challenges but in Jones’ mind the provincial championship, won in double overtime, was the hardest.
“They knew how to pass the ball around and definitely knew how to shoot and their goalies were top notch,” he said of the opposition, “they were definitely a tougher…team.”
In contrast, Jones felt, that the city championship, while still challenging, was the easiest.
The knights had played and beaten the other team during the regular season.
“We knew all their weaknesses,” said Jones.
