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Locals helping Excelsiors chase Mann Cup
Friday September 5 2008
By MIKE RAWN Banner Staff Writer
 
When the Brampton Excelsiors open the Mann Cup championship tonight, they’ll be relying on a wealth of former Orangeville Northmen players to capture the Canadian senior A lacrosse title.
Bruce Codd, Jon Harasym, Mike Kirk, Brodie Merrill, Patrick Merrill, Brandon Miller, Josh Sanderson and Phil Sanderson are all former Northmen now playing in Brampton. Terry Sanderson, who guided the Northmen to Minto Cup titles in 1993, 1995 and 1996, serves as Brampton’s assistant coach.
“That’s one of the things that’s always great about playing in Brampton, the Orangeville connection,” Miller, a member of the Excelsiors since 2001, said. “There is a lot of great talent that comes out of this town, and it has helped us out in Brampton, definitely.”
After winning the Mann Cup title in 2002 and the Ontario Lacrosse Association title in 2003, the Excels lost to Peterborough in the Ontario final for four straight years. Brampton finally broke through this year, defeating Peterborough in seven games.
“There was a lot of relief after that game seven,” Miller said. “We thought at the beginning of the year that there was something different about this team, that it was our time basically. Even when we got down three games to two against Peterborough, there wasn’t an ounce of doubt.”
“We thought we were the better team,” Josh Sanderson said. “We outscored them by 17 in the series. We enjoyed ourselves that night, but at the same time we’re not playing for the OLA championship, we want the Mann. So we’ve got work to do.”
The Excels will face New Westminster in the best four-out-of-seven final, to be held at the Brampton Powerade Centre. Although the Brampton roster is filled with professional players from the National Lacrosse League, that isn’t the case with the Salmonbellies.
“It’s the first time that I can remember when you look at a Mann Cup roster and don’t see a lot of superstars,” Miller said about New Westminster. “But they’re young, and I think they have a lot of up-and-coming superstars.”
“We expect them to run the floor on us, and we expect them to be real big in size,” Sanderson, the most valuable player of the 2002 Mann Cup, said. “They only lost one game all year so we know they’re good. But at the same time we think we match up well with them.
“I think the only thing that can beat us is ourselves. If we take them lightly and don’t respect them, they’ll beat us. If we have our A game, I’m hoping we’re a little bit better.”
Game two of the series goes Saturday, followed by game three on Monday and game four on Tuesday. All start times are 7:30 p.m.