MacDonald Cup cancelled as Preds wrap regular season with strong road showing

“As disappointed as I am, I feel bad for our players that were wanting to play in it and we’re looking forward to it. And our fans, we already had a volunteer list made up, we had stuff signed and ideas. It’s the behind-the-scenes guys I feel terrible for. But at the end of the day, if no team wants to come here and play us, there’s nothing we can really do about it.”

According to Wells, he spoke with upwards of 20-30 teams from across Western Canada, hoping to secure four to eight teams for the tournament. Since applications opened on May 2, only two clubs have shown interest in making the trip for the championship, with those being the Moose Jaw Mustangs and Lloydminster Xtreme.

It was noted that Lloydminster was only interested in competing for the MacDonald Cup if it were to be a five-game series between them and the Predators if either club were to win their respective leagues, to which Wells said they weren’t interested.

“I don’t see us pursuing that opportunity any further. If we are going to want to do that, I would like all five games to be played in Prince Albert as we were the original host. I don’t see a reason for us to be spending money to go play [elsewhere] when we were supposed to be the host.”

The club had to travel abroad for the last two installments of the MacDonald Cup, heading to Brooks, AB, in 2024 and Abbotsford, BC, last year. With teams not willing to make the same commitments to come to Prince Albert, Wells said it was more than upsetting to see.

“We’ve been a big proponent of trying to grow the game, and I think we’ve done a great job here in Prince Albert. The Saskatchewan teams here that we sit in these meetings year after year, everyone says, ‘We need to grow the game locally, grow the game locally’. And you know what, you try and grow the game locally and then you don’t even have the support of your peers within your own province that have been saying the same thing for years. It’s very frustrating.”

He continued that not seeing any interest from teams in BC wasn’t unexpected, as no teams went to the tournament when it was in Brooks in 2023. However, not seeing any interest from Alberta was shocking as the commissioner of the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL) told Wells that he was advocating for teams to register.

All in all, there will be no MacDonald Cup champion in 2026.

Preds dominate in final regular season weekend

As mentioned, the Predators were in full control in either of their contests during their final two games of the regular season.

Chase Lehner had PA in cruise control during their final trip to Moose Jaw, where he scored a game high nine points (1G-8A) in the win. Matthew Cudmore was behind him with five points (3G-2A) while the next closest players had four, with Cole Barmby netting four goals while Talon Sandry managed a goal and three assists. Cooper Bruce was the leading scorer for the Mustangs with six points (2G-4A).

In Weyburn, Cudmore was an unstoppable force with a 12-point (5G-7A) performance. Lehner also nearly hit double digits in the win with nine points (4G-5A) as two others tied with six in Sandry (2G-4A) and Ryley Prediger (4G-2A).

With another regular season championship in the bag, Wells said this season was a great success.

“I was very happy with how it went apart from a couple games, but you know, those are going to happen. And I think losing those two games is good for us. It makes the guys realize that we’re not unbeatable and that we have to come out and play our brand of lacrosse every single day.”

He added that the team has grown immensely since day one, especially in their younger players with their play, confidence, and learning ability.

“Looking into the future in the 2027 season [and] 2028 season, I feel confident those same young guys are going to grow up to be very good, confident leaders as well, similar to this year’s crew.”

The Preds will now faceoff with Moose Jaw in the semi-final round of the playoffs with that game set to be played at Prince Albert’s Kinsmen Arena. The contest will be next week with an official time and date to be announced at a later date.

There, Cudmore will be vying to become the PGLL Junior Division’s all-time leading goal scorer as he needs just three to accomplish the feat. That would give him the Junior Division’s Triple Crown as he already holds the all-time record for most assists (185) and most points (333).

The previous Triple Crown holder was Kenny Stewart who played for the Moose Jaw Mustangs from 2002-05, where he netted 285 career points (150G-135A).

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

by Logan Lehmann

MacDonald Cup cancelled as Preds wrap regular season with strong road showing

Preds dominate in final regular season weekend

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