The Thompson Ravens returned from the Manitoba Lacrosse Association bantam provincials July 4-6 in Sagkeeng with a bronze medal after posting a victory over the host in their final game of the 2009 season.
"Coaches Lovro Paulic, Fred Goran and Kevin Barnowich did a great job preparing the team that was put together only two weeks prior to the tournament," said Thompson Lacrosse Association past president Glenn Laycock. "The Ravens team improved each game it played."
Thompson faced Sagkeeng in the bronze medal game. The Ravens came out strong and were all over the Sagkeeng squad; Steven Goran opened the scoring with assists to Barnowich and McDonald. The first period ended in a 1-1 tie. The Ravens then outscored Sagkeeng 3-2 in the second with goals going Trent Laycock and Steven Goran with his second and third of the game. Assists went to Justin Paulic, Josh Barnowich, Drake Bodie and Alex Primrose. The second period ended with Thompson leading 4-3. The Ravens then finished off Sagkeeng with four goals in the third compared to their opponents' one. Scoring for the Ravens were Goran, with his fourth, Charlton and Jonah Babulic. Assists went to Paulic, Goran, Tanner Danyluk and Laycock. The final score was 8-4 for the Ravens, giving Thompson the bronze medal.
In Thompson's first game of the tournament against Sagkeeng, the Ravens came out flat and gave Sagkeeng an early 6-0 lead. Thompson then scored seven straight to take the lead 7-6, with goals coming from Charlton, Jory Ross, Paulic, Goran and Laycock, who recorded two. Assists went to Eric Campbell, Trevor McDonald, Primrose, Bodie, Paulic, Danyluk, Arnelle Evans, Riley Cummings and Babulic. Sagkeeng added three more in the second period, while the Ravens' Paulic added two more goals, with assists to Cody Dawson and Barnowich, to send the game into intermission with Thompson down 9-8. The Ravens came out strong in the third with Paulic getting his fourth of the game, assisted by Goran and Bodie. Danyluk scored the last two Thompson goals, with assists to Laycock and Eric Campbell, but the Ravens could not contain two skilled players from Sagkeeng who scored five goals in the third and the Ravens lost the 14-11. Arnelle Evans played well in net for Thompson.
Thompson then faced the Winnipeg Falcons, who scored six first period goals and never looked back, hammering Thompson 12-1. Thompson's lone goal came from Laycock with an assist going to Paulic. Evans faced numerous shots in the loss.
Thompson's final round-robin game was against the Winnipeg Gryphons. The Ravens jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a goal by Laycock, assisted by Goran. Winnipeg then scored four unanswered goals for a 4-1 first period lead. Charlton scored three second period goals, with assists going to Paulic, Goran and Danyluk. Winnipeg added one to end the second period with Winnipeg leading 5-4. The Ravens tied it early in the third with an unassisted goal by Paulic. but Winnipeg scored three more before Barnowich replied, with the assist going to Dawson. Thompson then ran into penalty trouble and Winnipeg scored three unanswered goals to win 11-6. Evans was stellar in net for Thompson.
