It was a historic win for Team Alberta at the midget box lacrosse national tournament in Ontario earlier this month.

Ethan Landymore from Okotoks and De Winton's Matt Flammenspeck contributed to the win, helping Team Alberta beat the lacrosse powerhouse of Ontario 5-4 in the gold medal final.
 
The win was a first for Team Alberta in midget box lacrosse.

Landymore,the tournament's MVP, says a revolutionary game strategy was key to the win.

"The system we ran was a lot different than what everyone else has run," Landymore explains. "We had to learn it, understand it and perform it and we all had to do that in order to be the best team we could have. And everyone bought in, and we were the best team.

Team Alberta went undefeated in round robin play during the week to earn themselves a bye into the gold medal game.

Landymore got the ball rolling, scoring the games first two goals.

"Coming out of the first period, we were up two-nothing against Ontario," Landymore says. "Our bench was super excited and then if you looked over at their bench, they were all heads down. They knew that this was going to be a tough, tough game for them."

Ontario battled back in the second period, but Team Alberta held on to the lead in the third.

Landymore says the team was confident of the win with 20 seconds left in the third and the players couldn't wait to get onto the field to celebrate the victory.

"Everyone on the bench was super excited, jumping up and down, just anxious to get off the bench," he says. "It was probably the best feeling in a lot of people's lives to go out, beat Team Ontario for the gold medal, in Ontario, and to bring it home, being the first team in Alberta history to win nationals for the midget level."

The midget box lacrosse national tournament was part of the Ontario Lacrosse Festival, held in Whitby, Ontario from August 4 to 13.