The 2019 NCL season came to a close this past weekend in Calgary with 18 teams playing for a chance to be crowned 16U and 19U National Champions. CAMO, Fraser Valley, Mavericks and Saskatchewan won the National Championships in the 19U Women, 16U Girls, 16U Boys, and 19U Men's categories, respectively.
The 2019 National Finals was held over a 3-day period at the Repsol Sport Centre, with 38 games being played to determine the National Champion in each age category. This year's finals featured a lot of parity, with many close games, and the championships in doubt to the very last second.
The 16U Boys competition used the same format as the girls' category. West Coast Warriors and Fraser Valley represented the Western Conference, while the East stayed the same as last year with Mavericks and Montreal Machine qualifying.
The Mavericks came into the event as heavy favourites and did not disappoint in the round robin as they went a perfect 3-0 and won all of their game by 8 or more goals. Their advancement to the gold medal game was a testament of their high powered offence.
The battle for the second spot in the gold medal game was a rematch of the Western Conference finals, with the West Coast Warriors facing Fraser Valley. Fraser Valley had beaten the West Coast Warriors two out of the last three games and were looking to continue the trend. The West Coast Warriors had other plans as they scored six goals in the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead into the opening break. Despite a comfortable lead, the Warriors did not get complacent, continuing to expand their lead as the game moved along. Most Valuable Defensive Player Adam Carter contributing four goals along with a solid defensive outing to help lead his team to a 15-8 win and a date with the Mavericks in the gold medal game.
The gold medal match featured back-to-back champion Mavericks and relative newcomer West Coast Warriors. The West Coast Warriors qualified last year as the Spartans but finished in fourth place.
With a chance to go from 4th to 1st this year, the Warriors defence started the game on fire as they only allowed two goals in the first against the Mavericks' top scoring offence.
In the second the Warriors grabbed a quick goal to take the lead and put some pressure on the Mavericks to get their stifled offence going.
Mavericks had faced almost no scoreboard pressure all season long, so it was fair to wonder how the defending champions would respond.
It didn't take long for that question to be answered as Mavericks would go on a four-goal run to take a three-goal lead. The West Coast Warriors showed their mettle by responding with a three-goal run of their own to tie the game, but from there the Mavericks were able to reach a gear that the Warriors simply could not match. Most Valuable Goalie Luka Jankovic would only allow four more goals the rest of the way and the offence would score 12 more to remove all doubt as they would go on to win the gold medal game 18-10.
The win marked the Mavericks third straight championship as well as an astounding 75 games unbeaten streak. http://waterpolo.ca/News3838.aspx
Final ranking for 2019
1. Mavericks
2. West Coast Warriors
3. Montreal Machine
4. Fraser Valley
16U Roster for 2019
1 Jankovic Luka2 Kamga Henri-Malcolm
3 Athanasiou Konstantinos
4 Masters Aiden
5 Vrbaski Sergije
6 Alex James Gregory
7 Rouby Mahmoud
8 Todorovic Lazar
9 Patel Krishan
10 Kavagoe-Glavatskyy Vladimir
11 James Gregory
12 Polyutov Dennis
14 Aboudaoud Karim
Coach: Nishand Damani
Assistant Coach: Avlijas Fedja
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