The past weekend was the start of something historical on the Barrie lacrosse scene, the program may have also had a helping hand from somewhere divine.
The Ontario Lacrosse Association “A” Qualifiers started this past weekend and, for the first time in 10 years, Barrie is in the mix with teams who are considered some of the strongest in the province.
Saturday was also the First Annual Anthony Acchione Classic, the weekend that honours the founding president of the Barrie Bombers Minor Lacrosse Association who passed away last year from a two-year battle with kidney cancer.
Acchione’s wife, Vanessa Acchione, and their three sons were on hand for the Holly Rec Centre tournament and ceremony. Together they watched a packed house of sombre players and staff offer an emotional tribute and moment of silence in honour of Anthony Acchione.
“This is just amazing and my family is so honoured that this weekend is happening,” said Acchione. “My youngest son, Kyler, is in this event while my other two are heading out to play in the “A” Qualifiers. It’s a wonderful way for them to honour their dad.”
The other two Acchione boys, Matthew and Cameron, had to head out for an event that not a lot of people expected to keep the Bombers Midget squad away from Barrie.
The OLA qualifiers were held in Whitby this past weekend with the top 16 teams in Ontario vying for six spots in the Midget Summer Games in August.
It’s a daunting feat, but those close to the program feel it’s been coming for a while. Considered the voice of Barrie lacrosse with his many announcing and speaking duties throughout the city, midget’s manager Jim Lowe has been watching the steady progression of these players over the years and is excited for lacrosse fans in the city.
“Two years ago we lost 10-2 to Huntsville, at the start of the season this year we lost 2-0 and then didn’t lose again for another month,” said Lowe. “It’s been amazing to watch the skill develop in the players and the passion grow even more in the staff. We all love lacrosse and want to make Barrie a powerhouse in a very competitive Ontario scene.”
As bantams two year ago, the boys were ranked 34th while this year as midgets they are ranked 11th.
Using the old sports motto of defense winning championships, the Bombers have created a defensive system to counter a talented offense that has been prevalent in Ontario for some time.
“We only allowed 19 goals in our first 11 games,” said Lowe. “This is now our second season, so to speak. There are no playoffs, just a bunch of tournaments against the hungriest teams in the province. We have to go in with what brought us here and keep playing our game.”
Sixteen-year-old William Lowe (son of Jim) is obviously partial to the style of play and enjoys doing what he can to shut teams down. The young defenseman feels grateful to be playing in the qualifiers and doesn’t think this is the only time this squad will make noise.
“I think we can go farther than the qualifiers and get to the next step next month,” said William. “I know it’ll be tough to compete against some of the best, especially defending champion Mimico, but we’ve worked so hard and come together so well.”
The first leg of the Ontario’s saw the Barrie boys go 0-3, but they show a ton of promise in the remaining four games to go in the July 22-24 half of this battle.
In the first game the Bombers lost in the last second of the game to a tough Brampton team. Lacrosse powerhouse Clarington took a 7-3 win on Barrie, but the shining example of the advancement of the team was the 4-2 loss against champion Mimico. The south Toronto region has long been considered one of the greatest programs in the country and the Barrie team held them to a 2-2 tie in the first half until conceding two goals in the second.
Despite being 0-3, Jim Lowe is confident that the Barrie team will be good going into the final stretch of this tournament as there were many ties in the other games, giving the Bombers a very real chance of making their own destiny in late July.
The final four games will be against Windsor, Six Nations, Hamilton and Oakville. Should Barrie be one of the top six teams to make it out of the qualifiers, they will have a great chance August 11 at the Super 6 to show off what they can do at what is considered the best lacrosse played in the country in front of a lot of scouts.
“Many of these teams and players had no idea who we were,” said Jim Lowe. “They’ve played over a decade of ‘A’ lacrosse and rarely played a Barrie team. They know who we are now.”
To keep track of the Barrie Bombers rise in the Ontario lacrosse ranks, check out their Facebook page at Barrie Minor Lacrosse Association or the website
