By Karen Allen

This past summer, Shorter men's lacrosse player, Matt Kristiansen, spent his summer playing lacrosse for a Canadian junior team in hopes of bringing home the Minto Cup. While his team ultimately fell short of the goal, Kristiansen was able to put together a pretty impressive stat line.

The Minto Cup is an annual award that is given to the top junior team in Canada. It was donated in 1901 by the Governor-General, Lord Minto, and from 1901 until 1909 it was awarded to the senior men's champion of Canada. 

However, in 1937, the Minto Cup began being awarded under box lacrosse rules to the junior men's champions. Currently the Canadian Lacrosse Association oversees the Minto Cup, and is the governing body of lacrosse in Canada.

Box lacrosse, which is much like hockey, is an indoor version of the sport we're accustomed to seeing played outdoors. The main difference being that each team consists of six players, rather than ten.

During the summer, Kristiansen competed for two different teams in pursuit of the Minto Cup. For most of the season he was a member of the Sherwood Park Titans, but was traded to the Okotoks Raiders for the final games of the regular season and the playoffs.

While playing for the Titans, Kristiansen appeared in 13 games. During which he scored 21 goals and dished out 15 assists for a total of 36 points. In the final four games of the regular season, Kristiansen joined the Raiders to help with their playoff chances. In this time he added seven goals and 12 assists to bring his season point total to 55.

In ten playoff games he tallied a team high, 14 goals, while also adding 19 assists for 33 total points.

Last season with Shorter, Kristiansen led the Hawks with 32 goals and 22 assists in 12 games, recording team highs in both.