Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League

Infobox sports league
logo=TOJLL.jpg
pixels=250px
caption=Junior B
sport=Box lacrosse
founded= 2001
teams= 7
country=CAN
champion=Kamloops Rattlers

The Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League is a box lacrosse league sanctioned by the British Columbia Lacrosse Association in British Columbia, Canada. The TOJLL's Kamloops Rattlers hosted the 2007 National Championships for the Founders Cup.

History

The Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse Leagues inaugural season was in 2001 with a fifteen game regular season schedule plus playoffs. The league consisted of six teams which included the Rutland Raiders, Kamloops Rattlers, North Okanagan Tigers, Kelowna Braves , Kelowna Dragons, and the South Okanagan Flames.

For the 2002 season the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League allowed the Prince George Posse into the league but, only as an exhibition team, for an eighteen game regular season schedule. The Posse (18-0-0) went on to play a perfect regular season.

Expansion came to the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League , for the 2003 season, with the inclusion of the Armstrong Shamrocks. The newly renamed Vernon Tigers represented the TOJLL in the Provincials losing to the Prince George Posse in a very exciting 9-7 Gold Medal game.

2004 saw the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League host the Provincials, which meant, that two teams from the TOJLL would play in the tournament. Those teams being the Vernon Tigers (0-4, in the Provincial round-robin), as Host, and Kamloops Rattlers (1-3,in the Provincial round-robin ) as 2004 TOJLL Champions. The Rattlers went on to play the Peninsula Falcons (2-1-1) for the Bronze Medal, winning 6-5.

The TOJLL was represented by the Kelowna Rattlers in the 2005 Provincials, they came away with a silver medal, losing the final, 16 - 15, to the Westshore Bears.

Prior to the start of the 2006 Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League season, two teams, the Kelowna Braves and Kelowna Dragons, amalgamated into the Kelowna Warriors. With the loss of one team the league reverted to a fifteen game regular schedule. The playoff format changed to that of a quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. The top two regular season teams got a first round bye. The League also expanded its pre-season schedule by including The Archie Jack Memorial Ice Breaker Tournament which is played in Armstrong, British Columbia.

The Kamloops Venom will be a new member in the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League for the 2008 season. The TOJLL also welcome the newly formed West Kootenay Wolf Pack to the league, as an exhibition team, for regular season play only.

The Current Teams

Note: - the Prince George Posse played the 18 game schedule as exhibition only, they won all games.

Note: * * - forfeited 3 games due

Playoff Recaps

The 2001 inaugural League Champions were the Rutland Raiders (12-1-2) defeating the Kelowna Braves (7-5-3) in the semi-finals, two games to zero. The Raiders met the Vernon Tigers (8-6-10) in the final and defeated them three games to two. The Tigers had previously beat the Kamloops Rattlers two games to zero, in the other semi-final.

For the league playoffs of 2002 the North Okanagan Tigers (15-3-0) defeated the Kamloops Rattlers (5-11-2) in the semi-finals, in two games. The Tigers then met up with the Kelowna Dragons (8-9-1) in the final. The Dragons had previously defeated the Rutland Raiders (11-7-0), in a very close two game sweep, semi-final. The North Okanagan Tigers defeated the Kelowna Dragons in three games to claim the League Championship.

In 2003 the Vernon Tigers (16-2-0) became TOJLL Champions for the second time by defeating the Kelowna Dragons (12-4-2) in the championship final by a three game sweep. The Tigers also defeated the Kamloops Rattlers 2 - 0, in the semi-final. In the other semi-final the Kelowna Dragons defeated the Rutland Raiders 2 - 1, in a best-of-three.

In the League playoffs of 2004 the Kamloops Rattlers (13-5-0) defeated the Rutland Raiders (16-2-1), three games to two, to claim the TOJLL Championship. They also eliminated the Vernon Tigers (14-3-1) in a semi-final match up, two games to one. To get to the final the Rutland Raiders had to defeat the Kelowna Dragons in a two game sweep.

In 2005 the Kamloops Rattlers (15-2-1) would become the second team to win back-to-back championships in the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League . The Rattlers earned a championship final playoff berth by defeating the South Okanagan Flames (8-10-0) in a two game sweep. They met up with the Rutland Raiders (14-4-0), who previously defeated the Vernon Tigers (10-7-1), in the 2005 TOJLL Championship series. The Rattlers completely demolished the Raiders in that final series, winning in a three game sweep, with a combined score of 47 - 18.

The 2006 season playoffs would prove to be unique for the league as the Kamloops Rattlers (13-1-1) would show their dominance and win a third consecutive League Championship. In the playoff quarter-finals best-of-three, the Vernon Tigers (8-4-3) defeated the Armstrong Shamrocks (1-11-3) and the Kelowna Warriors (2-9-4) defeated the South Okanagan Flames (4-10-1) in two game sweeps. For the semi-finals, the Kamloops Rattlers defeated the Kelowna Warriors (2-9-4) in two games. The other semi-final was a bit weird as the Rutland Raiders (10-3-2) won the first game against the Vernon Tigers 11-6. The Tigers would win the second game, 11-8 but, had to forfeit, due to an ineligible player ruling. The 2006 TOJLL Championship final series between the Kamloops Rattlers and Rutland Raiders would go the distance,best-of-five, and the Rattlers would prevail. In the Provincials the Kamloops Rattlers would garner a Bronze Medal for the TOJLL with a 10-8 win over the Westshore Bears.

With the same format in 2007 as it was in 2006 the end results were also the same. For an unprecedented fourth time, the Kamloops Rattlers (12-3-0) emerged as Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League Champions. The Rattlers previously defeated the Kelowna Warriors (5-9) in semi-final action and the Rutland Raiders (9-5-1) in the finals. In the other playoff series it was the Vernon Tigers (8-5-2) defeating the South Okanagan Flames (2-12-1), then losing to theRaiders, and the Armstrong Shamrocks (5-7-2) lost to the Kelowna Warriors. As a side note the Shamrocks and Warriors only played fourteen regular season games, as the fifteenth would have made no bearing in the standings, which was a game canceled earlier in the season.

The 2008 Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League Champions, the Kamloops Rattlers earned a Silver Medal at the Provincials. In round robin play they went 3-1 which secured 2nd place, in the Gold Medal game against the Coquitlam Adanacs the score was 8-4. The Rattlers(11-2-1) finished first overall in the TOJLL and along with the Rutland Raiders(9-2-3) received a first round playoff bye. In the second round the Rattlers met up with the Vernon Tigers(6-6-2) defeating them 2 games to 1. Previously the Tigers defeated the Kelowna Venom (4-7-3) 2 games to 1. The Raiders mean while faced the Kelowna Warriors(10-4-0), with the Warriors pulling off an upset come-from-behind series win, 2 games to 1. The Warriors advanced from the first round defeating the South Okanagan Flames(2-11-1) 2 games to 0. For their 5th consecutive TOJLL Championship, it was the Kamloops Rattlers defeating the Kelowna Warriors 3 games to 0.

Champions

:2008 Kamloops Rattlers:2007 Kamloops Rattlers:2006 Kamloops Rattlers:2005 Kamloops Rattlers:2004 Kamloops Rattlers:2003 Vernon Tigers:2002 North Okanagan Tigers:2001 Rutland Raiders

Former Member Teams

:Kelowna Braves:Kelowna Dragons

External links

* [http://www.bclacrosse.com/ BCLA Website]
* [http://www.tojll.com/ TOJLL Website]
* [http://www.armstrongjuniorshamrocks.ca/ Armstrong Shamrocks Website]
* [http://www.kamloopsrattlers.com/ Kamloops Rattlers Website]
* [http://www.rutlandraiderslacrosse.com/ Rutland Raiders Website]
* [http://www.vernontigers.ca/ Vernon Tigers Website]