A New Season, A New Hope

As many professional sports leagues are in the midst of their playoffs, some of the smaller amateur (?) leagues are underway or are set to begin. The OLA and Can-Am Senior “B” lacrosse leagues are heading into their fourth week of play while the Intercounty Baseball League began this past weekend. Not to forget the Major League Soccer league that started April 7.

In OLA action, the Ajax-Pickering Rock and the Brooklin Merchants are atop the East division with a 2-1 record while in the West, the defending President’s Cup Champion Wellington Aces are leading with a 3-1 record. The host team for the President’s Cup, the Owen Sound Woodsmen, is off to a slow start losing all three of their games so far. The OLA season consists of a 14 game schedule for each of the six competing teams with seven home games and seven games on the road. The OLA regular season ends on June 30 while the playoffs will be over by August 15 at the latest. The Can-Am season is two games longer than the OLA with the nine teams playing a total of 16 games (eight at home and eight on the road). Tonawanda Braves are leading the league with a perfect 3-0 record while the Newton Golden Eagles and the Six Nations Sting are close behind with a perfect 2-0 record.

Turning to baseball, the Intercounty Baseball League began play this past weekend with three games Saturday and four more on Sunday. The result of these games: the Guelph Royals are tied with the defending champions Brantford Red Sox at 2-0 while the Hamilton Thunderbirds and the Kitchener Panthers are sitting in the cellar with an 0-2 record. The IBL consists of nine teams scattered throughout Southern Ontario playing 36 games each, including several scheduled double headers. The regular season goes until July 22 and includes an all-star game on July 7 in Brantford.

Finally, Major League Soccer, with the new addition Toronto FC, is already a month into their season. The league leaders after about five games played are the Kansas City Wizards in the East at 4-1-0 while the Houston Dynamo and the Colorado Rapids both have an even 2-2-1 record in the West. Toronto FC is in last place overall with a 0-4-0 record while Real Salt Lake only has three ties in five games for second worst overall and bottom rank in the West.

The OLA Junior “B” lacrosse season has also started and is into its fourth week. Other seasons starting this month include Major League Lacrosse starting May 12, OLA Junior “A” lacrosse starting this weekend and Major Series Lacrosse starting May 24. This summer is sure to be packed with sports. The only question is which event to attend?