Image credit: Kamloops Venom

By Marty Hastings

SNAKE PIT

Kamloops Venom to open TOJLL season at home against Kelowna Kodiaks

Apr 9, 2024 | 3:29 PM

KAMLOOPS — Snake Pit fever will return this weekend at Memorial Arena.

The Kamloops Venom will begin the defence of their Thompson-Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League title on Saturday (April 13), when the Kelowna Kodiaks come to town for a 7:00 p.m. start at the venerable barn on Victoria Street.

“There hasn’t been talk of last year,” Venom general manager Brad Watson said. “We don’t like to look in the past. We always like to look to the future.

“We should have some good firepower and skill. It should be a pretty good, well-rounded team.”

The Venom were the class of the Junior B Tier 1 TOJLL in 2023, posting a 14-0 record in the regular season before sweeping the Kelowna Kodiaks in two games in Round 1 and breaking out the brooms in three games in the final against the Vernon Tigers.

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Kamloops locked up its seventh league title since club inception in 2008 and nailed down its first perfect season in franchise history.

In regular season league play, the Snakes boasted a goal differential of plus-128.

The Tigers (7-7), South Okanagan Flames (5-7) and Kodiaks (0-12) posted goal differentials of -20, -11 and -97, respectively.

Provincial supremacy eluded the Venom, who fell to the Victoria Shamrocks in the Tier 1 Junior B B.C. Lacrosse Championship.

Hometown Victoria rolled to 13-5 and 18-9 victories over Kamloops last August in a two-game aggregate series to claim the B.C. title.

“Goals and points might have to come from a broader range of players [this year], rather than one or two,” Watson said. “That’s the goal, to make everybody strive as a team.”

Graduates Trey Dergousoff, Nolan Virgo, Brandon Jacobsen and goaltender RJ Gerow leave holes to fill.

Offensive production from Dergousoff, in particular, will be a challenge to replace, as he played 12 games in 2023 and led the club in goals (33), assists (33) and points (66).

Watson is confident the team will be strong again this year, thanks in part to about 12 returning players and a capable group of about 10 newcomers that includes graduates from the Kamloops Minor Lacrosse Association ranks and players returning to the sport.

Watson said the Venom’s coaching stable includes head coach Sean Campbell and assistant coach Doug Clark.

The league will feature a new addition this season, with the Cranbrook Blackwolves rounding out the five-team circuit that includes the Venom, Kodiaks, Tigers and Flames.

“It puts a little bit of hurdles into travel, as we have to do overnights now, getting into Cranbrook, but a little new competition never hurts,” Watson said. “It’s nice to see our league is growing.”

Cranbrook previously toiled in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League.

The top four teams in TOJLL standings will qualify for the post-season, with the league champion slated to host the provincial championship series in August.

Two-time B.C. champion Kamloops won the TOJLL title in 2022 and fell short against the Coquitlam Adanacs in the provincial final.

Coquitlam swept the two-game aggregate series in Kamloops, winning 11-5 in Game 1 and 17-6 in Game 2.