Last year, the Predators raised the PGLL junior championship trophy over their heads. Will they get to do it again this year? (Jeff D'Andrea/paNOW Staff)

By Jeff D'Andrea

Preds and Sioux

Preds looking to repeat as PGLL champions

Jun 22, 2019 | 2:06 PM

After winning their first Prairie Gold Lacrosse League junior championship last season, the Prince Albert Predators have a chance to do it again. And like last year, they’ll head into the championship final series as the hosts and as the top-ranked team in the PGLL.

The Predators will take on the Standing Buffalo Fighting Sioux on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. If necessary, a rubber-match Game 3 will proceed following Sunday’s match. All games will be at the Kinsmen Arena in Prince Albert.

The Predators may be entering this game without a loss all season with an 8-0-2 record, the Fighting Sioux, have given the Preds the most fits this season.

One of the Predators’ ties game against the Sioux in the second game of the season, 6-6 at the Kinsmen on May 4. Standing Buffalo’s top offensive weapon in Jaxen Dufour was in on five of the Sioux’s goals in that contest, scoring twice and setting up three others.

And even with Dufour absent for the second meeting between the two teams on June 2, the Predators were still very much in danger of losing thir first game of the season. The Predators were down 10-7 with 12 minutes remaining, but rattled off six unanswered goals to win 13-10.

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“We need to be aggressive on D. This is a strong team coming,” Predators Head Coach Tyson Fetch said. “We did come back and beat them 13-10 in their barn, but you saw the game here — we tied them 6-6. That’s the team I expect to be here. It wasn’t quite the same team we faced down there, they were missing their top sniper [Dufour] when we played them.

“I think defensively if we can shut him down and get someone to take over and watch him, not let him get free shots or close-in shots, we have a really good chance.”

Predators Assistant Captain Travis Dryka has been an important and veteran defensive presence in the past few years, especially during last year’s run that resulted in the Predators’ first PGLL top-tier championship in team history. Dryka and his group will have to be able to close down Dufour, as well as the Sioux’s other weapons, to have a successful weekend.

“We have to stay solid and play our game — be mean to them and use our sticks more,” Dryka said. “I’m expecting them to come out right hard and try to quiet our crowd. We have to weather the storm for the first five minutes and pump in some goals.”

Offensively, the Predators have some standouts of their own. Predators’ attacker Tanner Vancoughnett led the league in every offensive stat with 29 goals, 21 assists and 50 points in the 10-game season. Dillan Cochrane finished fourth in points with 35 points.

“We’ve got a lot of Grade 12 graduates stepping up and that’s what we needed this year. They’ve been there before. We only really lost four or five guys from last year’s team. These guys have all been there before.

“It’s a pretty big weekend coming up. We get to host again, the league championships. The back-to-back does sound pretty sweet, but we need to have a full team effort. I know that sounds cliché, but it’s going to start with our back-end.”

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Jeff.dandrea@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @jeff_paNOW