- Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League
Infobox sports league
logo=TOJLL.jpg
pixels=250px
caption=Junior B
sport=Box lacrosse
founded= 2001
teams= 7
country=CAN
champion=Kamloops Rattlers The Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League is a
box lacrosse league sanctioned by theBritish Columbia Lacrosse Association inBritish Columbia ,Canada . The TOJLL'sKamloops Rattlers hosted the 2007 National Championships for theFounders Cup .History
The Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse Leagues inaugural season was in
2001 with a fifteen game regular season schedule plus playoffs. The league consisted of six teams which included theRutland Raiders ,Kamloops Rattlers , North Okanagan Tigers,Kelowna Braves ,Kelowna Dragons , and theSouth Okanagan Flames .For the
2002 season the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League allowed thePrince George Posse into the league but, only as an exhibition team, for an eighteen game regular season schedule. The Posse (18-0-0) went on to play a perfect regular season.Expansion came to the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League , for the
2003 season, with the inclusion of theArmstrong Shamrocks . The newly renamed Vernon Tigers represented the TOJLL in the Provincials losing to thePrince George Posse in a very exciting 9-7 Gold Medal game.2004 saw the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League host the Provincials, which meant, that two teams from the TOJLL would play in the tournament. Those teams being the Vernon Tigers (0-4, in the Provincial round-robin), as Host, andKamloops Rattlers (1-3,in the Provincial round-robin ) as 2004 TOJLL Champions. The Rattlers went on to play thePeninsula Falcons (2-1-1) for the Bronze Medal, winning 6-5.The TOJLL was represented by the
Kelowna Rattlers in the2005 Provincials, they came away with a silver medal, losing the final, 16 - 15, to theWestshore Bears .Prior to the start of the
2006 Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League season, two teams, theKelowna Braves andKelowna Dragons , amalgamated into theKelowna Warriors . With the loss of one team the league reverted to a fifteen game regular schedule. The playoff format changed to that of a quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. The top two regular season teams got a first round bye. The League also expanded its pre-season schedule by includingThe Archie Jack Memorial Ice Breaker Tournament which is played inArmstrong ,British Columbia .The
Kamloops Venom will be a new member in the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League for the 2008 season. The TOJLL also welcome the newly formedWest Kootenay Wolf Pack to the league, as an exhibition team, for regular season play only.The Current Teams
Note: - the Prince George Posse played the 18 game schedule as exhibition only, they won all games.
Note: * * - forfeited 3 games due
Playoff Recaps
The
2001 inaugural League Champions were theRutland Raiders (12-1-2) defeating theKelowna Braves (7-5-3) in the semi-finals, two games to zero. The Raiders met the Vernon Tigers (8-6-10) in the final and defeated them three games to two. The Tigers had previously beat theKamloops Rattlers two games to zero, in the other semi-final.For the league playoffs of
2002 the North Okanagan Tigers (15-3-0) defeated theKamloops Rattlers (5-11-2) in the semi-finals, in two games. The Tigers then met up with theKelowna Dragons (8-9-1) in the final. The Dragons had previously defeated theRutland Raiders (11-7-0), in a very close two game sweep, semi-final. The North Okanagan Tigers defeated theKelowna Dragons in three games to claim the League Championship.In
2003 the Vernon Tigers (16-2-0) became TOJLL Champions for the second time by defeating theKelowna Dragons (12-4-2) in the championship final by a three game sweep. The Tigers also defeated theKamloops Rattlers 2 - 0, in the semi-final. In the other semi-final theKelowna Dragons defeated theRutland Raiders 2 - 1, in a best-of-three.In the League playoffs of
2004 theKamloops Rattlers (13-5-0) defeated theRutland Raiders (16-2-1), three games to two, to claim the TOJLL Championship. They also eliminated the Vernon Tigers (14-3-1) in a semi-final match up, two games to one. To get to the final theRutland Raiders had to defeat theKelowna Dragons in a two game sweep .In
2005 theKamloops Rattlers (15-2-1) would become the second team to win back-to-back championships in the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League . The Rattlers earned a championship final playoff berth by defeating theSouth Okanagan Flames (8-10-0) in a two game sweep. They met up with theRutland Raiders (14-4-0), who previously defeated the Vernon Tigers (10-7-1), in the2005 TOJLL Championship series. The Rattlers completely demolished the Raiders in that final series, winning in a three game sweep, with a combined score of 47 - 18.The
2006 season playoffs would prove to be unique for the league as theKamloops Rattlers (13-1-1) would show their dominance and win a third consecutive League Championship. In the playoff quarter-finals best-of-three, the Vernon Tigers (8-4-3) defeated theArmstrong Shamrocks (1-11-3) and theKelowna Warriors (2-9-4) defeated theSouth Okanagan Flames (4-10-1) in two game sweeps. For the semi-finals, theKamloops Rattlers defeated theKelowna Warriors (2-9-4) in two games. The other semi-final was a bit weird as theRutland Raiders (10-3-2) won the first game against the Vernon Tigers 11-6. The Tigers would win the second game, 11-8 but, had to forfeit, due to an ineligible player ruling. The 2006 TOJLL Championship final series between theKamloops Rattlers andRutland Raiders would go the distance,best-of-five, and the Rattlers would prevail. In the Provincials theKamloops Rattlers would garner a Bronze Medal for the TOJLL with a 10-8 win over theWestshore Bears .With the same format in
2007 as it was in2006 the end results were also the same. For an unprecedented fourth time, theKamloops Rattlers (12-3-0) emerged as Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League Champions. The Rattlers previously defeated theKelowna Warriors (5-9) in semi-final action and theRutland Raiders (9-5-1) in the finals. In the other playoff series it was the Vernon Tigers (8-5-2) defeating theSouth Okanagan Flames (2-12-1), then losing to theRaiders, and theArmstrong Shamrocks (5-7-2) lost to theKelowna Warriors . As a side note the Shamrocks and Warriors only played fourteen regular season games, as the fifteenth would have made no bearing in the standings, which was a game canceled earlier in the season.The
2008 Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League Champions, theKamloops Rattlers earned a Silver Medal at the Provincials. In round robin play they went 3-1 which secured 2nd place, in the Gold Medal game against theCoquitlam Adanacs the score was 8-4. The Rattlers(11-2-1) finished first overall in the TOJLL and along with theRutland Raiders (9-2-3) received a first round playoff bye. In the second round the Rattlers met up with the Vernon Tigers(6-6-2) defeating them 2 games to 1. Previously the Tigers defeated theKelowna Venom (4-7-3) 2 games to 1. The Raiders mean while faced theKelowna Warriors (10-4-0), with the Warriors pulling off an upset come-from-behind series win, 2 games to 1. The Warriors advanced from the first round defeating theSouth Okanagan Flames (2-11-1) 2 games to 0. For their 5th consecutive TOJLL Championship, it was theKamloops Rattlers defeating theKelowna Warriors 3 games to 0.Champions
:
2008 Kamloops Rattlers :2007 Kamloops Rattlers :2006 Kamloops Rattlers :2005 Kamloops Rattlers :2004 Kamloops Rattlers :2003 Vernon Tigers:2002 North Okanagan Tigers:2001 Rutland Raiders Former Member Teams
:
Kelowna Braves :Kelowna Dragons External links
* [http://www.bclacrosse.com/ BCLA Website]
* [http://www.tojll.com/ TOJLL Website]
* [http://www.armstrongjuniorshamrocks.ca/ Armstrong Shamrocks Website]
* [http://www.kamloopsrattlers.com/ Kamloops Rattlers Website]
* [http://www.rutlandraiderslacrosse.com/ Rutland Raiders Website]
* [http://www.vernontigers.ca/ Vernon Tigers Website]
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