Barrie Lakeshores

Summary

The Barrie Lakeshores are Junior "A" box lacrosse team from Barrie, Ontario, Canada. The Lakeshores play in the OLA Junior A Lacrosse League.

Barrie Lakeshores
SportBox lacrosse
Founded2000
LeagueOLA Junior A Lacrosse League
Based inBarrie, Ontario
ArenaInnisfil Recreation Complex
ColoursBlue, Red, and White
Head coachDave Ree, Brett Kloepfer, Brandon Ree, Steph Charbonneau
General managerMike Kloepfer

History edit

Founded in 2000 as an Ontario Jr. B lacrosse team, the Barrie Tornado were named after the deadly 1985 tornado that put the Canadian City on the map.

The 2000 season, their first season, was a good start but nothing special. Since then, the Tornado have never slipped below a .500 record. Between 2000 and 2003, the team got progressively better. In 2000, they started out with a 5-15-0 record. The next season, the Tornado performed much better with an even 10-10-0 record, making the playoffs. In the first round, the squad faced the Green Gaels, the defending Canadian Champs. The boys from Barrie made quick work defeating the Gaels 3–1. The Tornado moved onto the second round and faced the Scarborough Saints, and eventually fell in a 5-game series. In 2002, Barrie had a 14-7-1 record in an extended 22-game season. Barrie met the Saints again in the first round defeating them 3–0. In the second round, the Tornado faced off against the Gaels yet again. In a back and forth series, the Tornado succumbed to the Gaels in 5 games. (The Gaels would eventually claim the Canadian Championship.)

 
Logo before joining Jr. A.

2003 was the coming out party for the Tornado. By the end of the season, Barrie clinched first in the Eastern Conference with a 15-4-1 record. In the first round of the playoffs, Barrie took on the Oakville Buzz. The series, surprisingly, went the distance. The long series was a sign of the beginning of the growth of a young and quickly developing Buzz team. The Tornado took the series 3 games to 2. The Quarter-finals were against the Mimico Mountaineers. Barrie very quickly went down 2 games to none in the best-of-5 series. To the dismay of the Mountaineers, Barrie pulled themselves back together and won the next 3 games straight to earn a birth to the Conference final. In the Eastern Conference final, the Barrie Tornado took on the Nepean Knights. The Tornado won the series without much trouble, 3 games to 1, to earn a birth into the League final.

The finals determine the OLA's representative at the National Championships. The Tornado's opponent in the Provincial championship was the Six Nations Red Rebels. The two teams split the first two games of the best-of-5 final series with Six Nations winning 15-8 and Barrie taking game two 15–10. Barrie won a hard-fought 8–6 win on the Six Nations home floor only to have the Rebels return the favour in on the Barrie floor with a 12–5 win to force a game 5. The thrilling series came to an end with Barrie Tornado claiming an 11–8 victory to win the Ontario title and the J. A. MacDonald Trophy to earn a birth into the 2003 Founders Cup tournament in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia.

2003 Founders Cup edit

The National Championship opened for Barrie against Juan de Fuca on August 20, 2003. The Tornado dominated their opponents, defeating them by a score of 11–5. The same day, Barrie played their second game against Coquitlam. The result was indicative of a team playing their second game of the day, as they squashed Coquitlam by a score of 17–3.

Day two, August 21, saw Barrie crush Edmonton by a score of 13–3. August 22, had Barrie play their last game of the round robin against Winnipeg, defeating them 18–7. The victory clinched first place in Pool A, and a birth into the semi-final against Prince George. In the end, Barrie pulled out a squeaker as they defeated Prince George by a close and low scoring 7-6 decision. In the other semi, Coquitlam defeated Port Coquitlam by a score of 10–8 to meet Barrie in the final.

Although the final between Barrie and Coquitlam was a lot closer than their first meeting, the Tornado cruised to a 16–8 win to earn their first ever Founders Cup as National Junior "B" Champions.

Since 2003 edit

Barrie had a pair of rebuilding years in 2004 and 2005, but came back to form in 2006 with a 17-2-0 record. However, the Tornado were upset in the quarter-finals by the Mimico Mountaineers, cutting down the dream of a second Founders Cup. Following the 2008 season the Tornado switched leagues with the Orillia Rama Kings and are now a member of the Ontario Junior A Lacrosse League. They now go by the name Barrie Lakeshores.

Season-by-season results edit

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Season GP W L T GF GA PTS Placing Playoffs
2000 20 5 15 0 146 272 10 8th OLA-B East DNQ
2001 20 10 10 0 209 202 20 7th OLA-B East Lost quarter-final
2002 22 14 7 1 253 205 29 4th OLA-B East Lost quarter-final
2003 20 15 4 1 245 159 31 1st OLA-B East Won League, won Founders Cup
2004 20 10 10 0 204 166 20 9th OLA-B East DNQ
2005 20 11 8 1 215 148 23 6th OLA-B East Lost 1st round
2006 19 17 2 0 202 119 34 2nd OLA-B East Lost quarter-final
2007 20 11 9 0 176 139 22 5th OLA-B East Lost quarter-final
2008 20 13 6 1 160 129 27 7th OLA-B East Lost 1st round
2009 *22 8 15 0 188 215 16 9th OLA-A DNQ
2010 22 4 18 0 174 279 8 10th OLA-A DNQ
2011 22 7 15 0 187 270 14 10th OLA-A DNQ
2012 20 3 17 0 174 274 6 10th OLA-A DNQ
2013 20 10 10 0 186 191 20 7th OLA-A Lost quarter-final
2014 20 8 12 0 190 224 16 9th OLA-A DNQ
2015 20 9 10 1 159 175 19 7th OLA-A Lost quarter-final
2016 20 6 14 0 152 177 12 9th OLA-A DNQ
2017 20 3 16 1 131 197 7 11th OLA-A DNQ
2018 20 2 18 0 88 197 4 11th OLA-A DNQ
2019 20 0 20 0 82 247 0 12th OLA-A DNQ

External links edit

  • Barrie Lakeshores Lacrosse Club
  • Barrie Tornados (archived)
  • Official 2003 Founders Cup Page
  • The Bible of Lacrosse
  • Unofficial OLA Page Archived 2006-09-08 at the Wayback Machine