It’s an accomplishment to be certain, but it will be a few days before the Owen Sound van Dolder Home Team Woodsmen accept, and maybe appreciate, a silver medal from the Presidents Cup and the bigger picture.
The Woodsmen had their bid to become threepeat Canadian Senior Lacrosse Champions stymied on Saturday when they lost the Championship Game 14-7 to the Onondaga Redhawks.
Knowing the people who run the Woodsmen, and several of the players, second place won’t go down well, and that’s understandable, to a certain extent, it’s admirable.
But in all honesty, the Woodsmen’s silver medal this year, seems almost as valiant as their Championship victories.
They did not dominate the Ontario league this year for a variety of factors, in fact some of their defeats they suffered in the regular season were epic, and will be talked about for years.
Regardless, Owen Sound showed the mettle of a champion winning the Ontario playoff title and then displayed that mettle once again at the Presidents Cup were they defied staggering odds on the final day of the round robin just to get to the Championship game, before losing to Onondaga.
Afterwards, the Woodsmen admitted Onondaga was the better team on that day, but it won’t sit easy with them in the short term, and it will likely be a long time before they recognize and accept that silver was an accomplishment
I’m Fred Wallace