WHITBY – The 10th annual Ontario Lacrosse Festival, the largest annual youth lacrosse event in North America, is set to being at the Iroquois Park Sports Centre, in Whitby, beginning Sunday July 29th with the official Opening Ceremonies set for Sunday, July 31st.
Peewee and Midget teams from throughout Canada will compete.
This year nearly 557 teams and 11,028 players and coaches are expected to participate in the Festival. The expanded size of the event sees the use of four municipalities to incorporate all those attending. Facilities in use for the 2016 Festival are: Iroquois Park, McKinney Arena, and Luther Vipond Arena in Whitby, Legends Centre in Oshawa, Rickard Recreation Complex in Clarington, the Ajax Community Centre in Ajax, and the Don Beer Arena in Pickering.
In addition to the indoor tournament competition, an outdoor Festival Fun Zone is on-site providing unique, engaging and experiential opportunities for Festival fans.
“The Ontario Lacrosse Festival is a 10-day combination of great competition and fun for the entire family,” said Ontario Lacrosse Association President John Doherty.
The television broadcast schedule will feature four games broadcast live on Saturday, August 6th on the Rogers Ontario network:
The bronze medal game of the Warrior Pee Wee Lacrosse Championship of Canada at 1:30 p.m. (bronze medal game).
The finals of the Pee Wee Lacrosse Championship of Canada at 3:05 p.m. (gold medal game)
The bronze medal game of the Warrior Midget Lacrosse Championship of Canada at 6:30 p.m.
The finals of the Warrior Midget Lacrosse Championship of Canada at 8:05 p.m. (gold medal game).
Repeat broadcasts will be aired on future Rogers Television dates within Ontario.
“We are very pleased to partner with Rogers Television to deliver the full flavour of one of the largest community-based youth sport events in Canada and the minor lacrosse national championships. The increased awareness of Canada’s national summer sport is a direct result of a growing television audience for lacrosse,” said Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA) Convener, Doug Luey.
Teams from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, including a First Nations teams representing Six Nations, Akwesasne, Kahnawake, will look for provincial titles in Peewee, Bantam, Tyke, Novice and Midget, Girls Box and Intermediate, as well as Canadian Peewee and Midget tiles.
Six lacrosse venues will be used in and around Whitby to accommodate all games.
Last year, the Six Nations Midget B Girls womn Gold while Akwesasne won Bantam B’s.
