A successful preseason has expectations sky high for the newly formed Cambridge Highlander Jr. B lacrosse franchise.
It all starts for real Saturday when the team hits the road for their first regular season game against the Point Edward Pacers.
“There's a really good buzz within the team and a lot of excitement,” says Brady Campbell, Highlanders head coach and general manager.
“We've been going hard during our practices.”
There’s plenty to build on for what Campbell calls a young roster after they finished the preseason with three wins and a tie against some of the top teams in the Jr. B league last season in London, Orangeville, Elora and Guelph.
While Campbell doesn’t want to read too much into the performance given not all teams were playing their full lineup, he feels the optimism is warranted.
“I knew with this group being young I needed to see how this team could handle games against bigger, stronger kids,” Campbell says of the exhibition slate.
“The teams we played were top three in our division last year. I think we had our eyes opened up. I want to go to the playoffs and I want to go deep. I gauge us to be in the hunt. My goal every year is to give us an opportunity to win it all.”
After the opener against the Pacers, the Highlanders will play six more games on the road before returning home on May 14 to take on the St. Catharines Athletics in their first ever game at Galt Arena Gardens.
The arena is part of the reason for their lengthy road schedule to open the season.
Campbell says the uncertainty around the Cambridge RedHawks playoff run and the ice being taken out forced a conservative decision on their home opener.
But don’t expect any excuses from his players, in fact, Campbell is relishing the opportunity.
“I don’t mind being on the road to start because we have young group of kids that don’t know any better,” he says.
“They don’t know they're the new kids on the block and people don't expect you to do well on the road.”
Whenever a new team enters a league, it can take time to develop rivalries that fans can get excited about. For Cambridge, it appears they may have natural rivals in Guelph and Elora from a geographical standpoint.
But that’s the furthest thing from Campbell’s mind.
“I don’t look at rivalries,” he says.
“Winners create rivalries. If you're winning, everyone's a rival. For me I don't care what anyone else is doing. The big thing we've done in Cambridge is we did a lot of development early, we built our team and association from the ground up. If a natural rivalry comes then I’m all for it.”
When the team finally returns home, Campbell hopes the community comes out and supports the hard work the team has put in.
“I want this community to have pride in what’s been accomplished to this point,” he says.
“It’s a fun and intense game they’ll be watching.”
For more information on the Cambridge Highlanders visit cambridgehighlandersjrb.com.
