Congratulations to Storm, the 2021-2022 Vic Box Lax Champions.
The Victoria Box Lacrosse season came to a close with the Storm taking out the final against Rage with an emphatic 14-3 victory. Rage battled to the end, but injuries at the pointy end of the year certainly slowed them down.
It was a grand final night that the Altona Lacrosse Club could not lose with 4 players (Campbell Mackinnon, Lachlan Mackinnon, Jasper Hanna-Roberts and Chayden Allen) in the Storm side and 2 (Joel Kukucka and Aaron Lewer) in the Rage. In what was a lop-sided match, at one stage the scoreline read, Storm 9 goals (C. Mackinnon 3, L. Mackinnon 3, J. Hanna-Roberts 3) to Rage 1 goal (J. Kukucka). All 10 goals to Altona Players!
The Rage had no answer to the Altona led onslaught with Campbell eventually leading all scorers with 4 goals, Lachlan getting the goal of the year and 3 goals and Jasper using pinpoint accuracy and power to put in 3 goals. Joel Kukucka tried hard and finally put Rage on the board with a good dodging goal and a rare highlight for the Rage. Rage had few winners on the night but one of them was young Altona centre Aaron Lewer who, despite a sprained ankle, got the better of his opponents by winning 7 of his 10 face-offs and giving the Rage first use of the ball but they could not convert.
Watching how well the Altona players have performed against some of the best lacrosse players in Australia, we should all be very excited about the upcoming field season. I am sure Alan Lewer would have been so proud of how this competition has developed and the leading role Altona is taking in ensuring the future of Indoor Lacrosse in Australia. This has already been a great year for Indoor Lacrosse and for Altona.
There are many people who deserve recognition for the success of the new competition. Firstly Rod Maher and James Bleed who worked tirelessly to ensure the competition was an outstanding success. Lachlan Williams and the Australian Lacrosse Network for streaming the games and brought our sport to a wider audience. LukeEarth Lacrosse, Sportlaxoz and _laxphotos for providing great shots of the players in action. Jason Lawrence and our team of Box Officials, including Alan Frost, Steve Green, Brendan Pinkerton, Kelvin Minards and Richard Gorr, without whom we would not have had a competition. Brooke Musgrove who kept track of what was going on as the competition scorer, Dan Hall for setting up all the scoreboards and keeping them running. Jett Lewer who ran the shot clock, which might be the most complex job during the game. Danny McGee for manning the Bar and BBQ. Mal and Susie Struhs for the Saturday morning coffees and everyone else around the club that pitched in.
Finally, we want thank all of the players, coaches, supporters who have made this an amazing year. Best of luck to all of you in the coming field season and keep an eye out for our plans for next summer.
