Opportunities in sports are sometimes like shooting stars – rare and fleeting.
So, when Burnaby’s Brad Breadon was released by the junior A Lakers prior to the trade deadline this season, he was more than happy to be picked up by the B.C. Junior Lacrosse League’s top team.
As a third-year defender in his final season of junior, Breadon is one of the lucky ones, going from last place to a Minto Cup challenger in the span of less than 24 hours.
Breadon scored his first junior A goal as a Coquitlam Adanac in the team’s 26-6 win over the Delta Islanders in the final game of the regular season.
He also managed to crack the lineup in approximately half of the A’s back-to-back series sweeps over New Westminster and Delta in the playoffs.
Earlier this month, Breadon also saw duty in Coquitlam’s final game at the Western Canadian finals in Calgary – a 13-3 victory over the Okotoks Raiders – that earned the A’s a fourth trip to the Minto in the past five seasons.
But that’s just fine with the 6-3, 200-pound Burnaby defender, who tasted playoff lacrosse for the first time in his career this season.
“It’s awesome. You spend your whole life wanting to win a Minto Cup, so to finally get an opportunity like this is pretty cool,” said Breadon, just days before the team flew east to take on the Six Nations Arrows in a repeat of last year’s Canadian junior A lacrosse final won by the Ontario champion in a six-game series.
As a product of the Burnaby minor system, Breadon has been through some lean years.
In fact, lacrosse had become more about the camaraderie rather than wins and losses, he said.
“I loved the guys and the team, but we struggled,” said Breadon.
Now, it’s about putting all the past defeats behind him and being ready when called upon to play.
“You’ve got to go out every shift, you have to separate it from all the (past) mistakes and the goals scored,” Breadon said, “I just have to keep my head down and keep working.”
Breadon knows the Adanacs will be in tough when they travel to Hagersville, Ont. to take on Six Nations at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena.
The Jr. A Arrows have gone to the Minto six times and won two cups since the 2,300-seat lacrosse-only arena was built in 2004.
“I’m just ready to play a seven-game series. It’s going to be a battle,” said Breadon. “We have the talent to do it. I think we have a great shot; everyone wants to do it. I think we’re going to go in there and have a great battle.”
Coquitlam won its first-ever Minto Cup at home against the Orangeville Northmen in 2010.
The last time a B.C. team won a Canadian Jr. A lacrosse banner back east was in 1979 by Burnaby Cablevision.
A team from the West Coast has won a Minto Cup just 13 times in the past 45 years.
The best-of-seven Minto Cup final kicks off on Saturday, Aug. 22, with Game 2 played on Sunday.
Game 3 is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 25 and Game 4 for Aug. 26.
If necessary, a Game 5 will be played on Thursday, Aug. 27.
Games 6 and 7, if necessary, will take place on Aug. 29 and 30, respectively.
