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Hoping for some Havoc: Junior lacrosse team plans to play out of Galt Arena Gardens

The Tri-City Havoc is planning to play out of the Galt Arena Gardens starting in August as part of a new four-team junior league
CambridgeToday Staff
2021-05-18-Galt-Arena-Gardens2
Galt Arena Gardens will be home to the Tri-City Havoc lacrosse team starting in August.Mehreen Shahid/CambridgeToday

The Galt Arena Gardens will host the Tri-City Havoc in August as the major junior lacrosse team kicks off its inaugural season as part of the fledgling Tewaaraton Lacrosse League.

The team, which serves Kitchener, Waterloo, Guelph and Cambridge, made the announcement last week after securing a deal with the City of Cambridge to host box-lacrosse games in the 100-year-old Gardens. The Gardens is the oldest continually operating arena in Ontario and one of the oldest in the world.

The Havoc adds to a growing presence of the sport in Waterloo region. The Kitchener Waterloo Braves and the Jr. C Wilmot Wild, in New Hamburg, operate in the Ontario Lacrosse Assocation. The Tewaaraton league is operating outside of the association under its own rules that allow players up to the age of 22.

The news of the Havoc’s formation comes two months after the creation of the league in March when the Six Nations Arrows announced it had exited the Ontario Lacrosse Association to become the first team in the league. 

The league has a goal of increasing interest in the sport stated president Lewis Staats, who will run the league's executive with Vince Hunt, from the Burlington Black Hawks as first vice-president and Jeff Snyder, from the Tri-City Havoc as second vice-president.

Tewaaraton is is made up of four teams – Burlington Black Hawks, Oshawa Knights, Six Nations Arrows and Tri-City Havoc – and will kick off the season with an eight-day tournament from Aug. 12 to Aug. 19, said a press release. A location for the tournament hasn't been confirmed.

The teams will play a round robin format, using modified National Lacrosse League rules. The league will host its first online entry draft May 27.

“We are developing a comprehensive health and safety plan that will, first, follow policies and protocols issued by public authorities for the safe running of organized sport leagues; second, we will take all precautions at our disposal to mitigate the risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19 as we begin league activities,” said league Leadership Circle of Excellence member Rob Francis in the release.