Regular season action in the Canadian Lacrosse Association’s Sr. A circuit concluded at the end of July, with both Major Series Lacrosse and the Western Lacrosse Association now in playoff mode.
Here’s how things have been going over the last few weeks.
The Six Nations Chiefs wrapped up another stellar regular season, finishing atop the standings with a 16-2 record, their only two losses coming on the road to the Peterborough Lakers. The Chiefs secured first place ages ago – nobody was going to catch up to them and their star power. Just look at their top five scorers: Josh Byrne (55 points), Ryan Smith (52), Dhane Smith (47), Lyle Thompson (40), Shayne Jackson (35). Every single one of their regular rostered players is an NLL stalwart.
The Peterborough Lakers finished in second place with a 13-5 record. They lost one game to every other team except the last-place Brampton Excelsiors (3-14). Taite Cattoni and Mike Robinson finished atop the team’s scoring leaderboard with 42 points each. Joe Resetarits surged into third place after an eight-point effort in the final game of the season. That game was also the Lakers’ biggest win of the season, 15-4 over Cobourg, on one of the hottest days of the summer in an arena with no air conditioning.
Third-place finisher Brooklin Lacrosse Club (11-7) struggled a bit down the stretch, losing four games in a row, each by a single goal. Sean Westley led BLC in scoring with 59 points. Captain Connor Kearnan followed that with 47 points and potential 2025 first-round pick Will MacLeod finished third with 43 points. Last year’s MSL MVP, Zach Higgins, ended the season with a respectable 8.09 GAA.
The Owen Sound North Stars (8-10) battled the season with Cobourg for fourth place and now find themselves in the playoffs for the second time in their two short seasons. Owen Sound surprised a lot of people this summer, being such a young team, but head coach Adam Jones demanded commitment and work ethic from his players, and it paid off. They depended a lot on leading scorer Jackson Webster, who finished atop the league with 73 points. Goaltending tandem Andrew Kidd and Kaleb Martin finished ninth and 10th in GAA, so there is improvement to be had there.
The Cobourg Kodiaks (6-12) started evenly before a three-game win streak midseason gave them a burst of confidence. Unfortunately, they finished the season on a six-game losing skid and missed the playoffs. Future first-round pick Alex Marinier led the team in scoring with 54 points. Captain Aaron Woods, who has seen time with Halifax and Toronto in the NLL, was right behind him with 53. The Kodiaks never have as many veteran NLL players on their roster as the teams in front of them but they are always a hardworking bunch that will one day see their grit turn into success.
A team that struggled this season was the Oakville Rock (5-12). Gone are the many Toronto Rock veterans who defined an era of success at both levels – no more Andrew Kew (Victoria), Brad Kri or Latrell Harris (Six Nations), Nick Rose (Peterborough), Challen Rogers (transitioned to coaching). This season they went with the same youth movement we’ve seen in the NLL from the Rock – counting on players like Josh Jubenville, Zack Kearney, Josh Dawick, Chris Weier, Phil Mazzuca, etc. Billy Hostrawser and Adam Jay were supposed to come back, but only ended up playing two games and one game, respectively. Dawick led the team with 50 points as he continues to grow his game. Oakville opted to forfeit their final game of the season, which was meaningless in the standings – both semifinal series were scheduled to start the same day for efficiency.
In last place were the Brampton Excelsiors (3-14). They started the season 0-8 before getting a win over Oakville. At that midway point of the season, they were already out of the playoffs. Brampton wasn’t bad so much as they were unlucky – eight of their losses were by a single goal. Mike Triolo provided a midseason boost to the team when he arrived, scoring 26 points in just eight games. Despite the team’s losing record, goaltender Riley Hutchcraft finished with the fourth-best GAA in the league at 7.07.
Though Owen Sound stepped up in the opening round and played hard, even taking the lead once or twice in games, they ultimately fell in four straight games to Six Nations.
Brooklin entered the playoffs with an underdog mentality, going up against Peterborough, a team which has beaten them in the semifinals three years running. That series is currently at 3-2 for Brooklin, having won the last three games. Game 6 is Wednesday night on their home floor, and Game 7 back in Peterborough Thursday if necessary.
The Coquitlam Adanacs (15-2-1) finished on top of the standings by three points over New Westminster. It had been a tight race at the top between those two teams and Victoria all season long. Christian Del Bianco helped the team to 11 wins as they were led in scoring by San Diego rookie Adam Noakes with 57 points. Coquitlam really relied on a committee of forwards to facilitate their offence rather than one or two big names; defender Jalen Chaster chipped in 36 points to finish fourth in team scoring.
For the New Westminster Salmonbellies (14-4-0), Mitch Jones and Haiden Dickson were one-two in league scoring with 88 and 76 points, respectively. Dickson led in goals with 43. Will Malcom, Tyler Pace and Tye Kurtz rounded out their top five in scoring, while the defence boasted names like Adam Weidemann, Jeff Cornwall and Brett Mydske. Justin Geddie was their starter until Frank Scigliano was acquired, and both finished with respectable GAAs. The ‘Bellies, who ended the regular season on a five-game win streak, also racked up a power play percentage of 46% and a penalty kill of 70%, making them difficult to beat on special teams.
Victoria’s top five scorers consisted of Zach Manns (53 points), Andrew Kew (51), Patrick Dodds (35), Marshal King (32) and Clarke Petterson. Manns and Kew, who left Oakville to join the WLA this season, turned into the league’s most dangerous duo. Elijah Gash, signed as a free agent, was an excellent defender for the Shamrocks although he led the league in penalty minutes. When he wasn’t in the box, he was playing tough defence like he showed as a member of the Rock in the NLL last season. For the second year, Christopher Origlieri and Cam Dunkerley were a solid one-two punch in goal.
Marcus Klarich led the fourth-place Maple Ridge Burrards in scoring with 72 points. The sophomore forward broke out during Vancouver’s run in 2024-25 and continued his upward swing during the summer season. Maple Ridge boasts several members of the Warriors, who will do all they can to keep their summer season from ending with a playoff defeat like their NLL season did.
Unfortunately, the WLA website currently has no information on the Nanaimo Timbermen, Langley Thunder or Burnaby Lakers, who did not make the playoffs and no longer show up on the league’s stats pages for 2025.
The finals are already set in the WLA. The Adanacs will take on the Salmonbellies beginning Tuesday night.
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Coquitlam beat Maple Ridge in round one of the playoffs, winning the best-of-five series three games to one.
Many had expected New Westminster vs Victoria to be the final showdown for the right to host the Mann Cup. The Salmonbellies most recently won the WLA in 2023 and 2017. The Shamrocks are the defending WLA champs for the third time in the last 10 years and together the two teams boast the strongest and most exciting rosters on the West coast. New West beat Victoria three games to one.
All WLA games are streamed via https://www.wlalacrosse.com/wlatv.
It’s awards season in the CLA! As the regular season winds down, both the MSL and WLA hand out awards for their standout players.
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Let’s start with the goalies. Out west, Christian Del Biano beat out Christopher Origlieri for Goaltender of the Year, despite Origlieri having a slightly better GAA and SV%. Del Bianco played more and won more, though, leading Coquitlam to 11 wins as their main tender, while Origlieri split time with Cam Dunkerley. In the MSL, Warren Hill won the award, which is given automatically to the goaltender with the lowest GAA. Hill was absolutely deserving with an outstanding and nearly unheard-of GAA of 5.45 through nine games. His teammate Doug Jamieson finished second at 6.12. The award used to be given to the tandem that finished with the lowest GAA, but this season it is Hill’s alone.
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Drew Belgrave of New Westminster took home the Defensive Player of the Year award in the WLA, while two players shared the award in the MSL. Latrell Harris (Six Nations) and Matt Gilray (Peterborough) both had strong seasons for their clubs. Defence wins championships, and if either the Salmonbellies, Chiefs or Lakers win the Mann Cup, it’ll be largely thanks to their defencemen.
Jackson Webster has been named this year’s Bucko MacDonald Award winner for Leading Scorer — presented by Bergmanis Preyra LLP.
He dominated the scoresheet with 73 points, earning his place at the top of the league and proving to be a major force on the floor every night. pic.twitter.com/t8TahvFDwO
— Major Series Lacrosse (@MajorSeriesLax) August 1, 2025
Jackson Webster of Owen Sound led the MSL in scoring and was named the Murphy Award winner as league MVP. He put up 73 points (31G/42A) in just 16 games and had at least a hat trick in six games. New Westminster’s Mitch Jones was the top scorer in the WLA with 88 points in 17 games (40G/48A), however, the MVP award went to Marcus Klarich of Maple Ridge. He also took home the league’s 3-Star award.
WLA Unsung Hero – Nick Preston (Victoria/Las Vegas)
WLA Value, Sportsmanship, Volunteerism – Devlin Shanahan (Nanaimo/formerly Buffalo)
MSL Coaching Staff of the Year – Mike Hasen (Rochester), Tracey Kelusky (Philadelphia), Bobby Keast (formerly Minnesota), Mat Giles (formerly Rochester), Chad Campbell – Peterborough Lakers
WLA Coach of the Year – Steve McKinlay (Coquitlam/formerly Washington/San Jose Stealth)
MSL Rookie of the Year – Finn Thompson (Brampton/Draft Eligible 2026)
WLA Rookie of the Year – Silas Richmond (Burnaby/Draft Eligible 2026)
In the Ontario Junior Lacrosse League, Thomas Kiazyk (Saskatchewan Rush) of the Toronto Beaches has been named a finalist for the Chris and Ryan Sanderson Award for Most Outstanding Goaltender.
