The new look of junior lacrosse in B.C. will have a familiar face behind the bench when the Richmond Roadrunners play their regular season home opener Sunday afternoon against the Victoria Shamrocks.
Greg Rennie is back with the Roadrunners organization after an impressive run as coach and GM of the B.C. Junior “A” Lacrosse League’s Delta Islanders.
It was highlighted by the team’s first-ever championship and Minto Cup berth in 2016. He previously enjoyed a successful stint guiding the Roadrunners’ intermediate “A” program. His championship team featured a number of former Roadrunner standouts including team captain Brad Hofmann and Nick Jensen who scored the biggest goal in Islanders’ history — the deciding game overtime winner in the league finals against Coquitlam.
Rennie stepped away from coaching the Islanders last season and remained on as the club’s GM. It’s his passion to be behind the bench that brought him back to Richmond. Now he is now charge of the Roadrunners entry in the new B.C. Junior “B” Tier One Lacrosse League.
It was last fall when B.C. Lacrosse decided to drop its Intermediate Leagues (Grades 11-12) entirely and make junior a five-year age division. It puts the province on par with the rest of Canada.
Junior “B” Tier One replaces Intermediate “A” as the top tier of talent below the BCJALL. The long-running West Coast Junior Lacrosse League is now considered Junior “B” Tier Two.
Joining Rennie on the bench is Neil Doddridge who was also with the Islanders during their championship run and has enjoyed plenty of success at the junior and senior levels.
Richmond opened its season with a 10-4 road loss to the Port Coquitlam Saints back on April 26. Its roster includes two-sport standout Josh Bourne who is coming off playing for the Nanaimo Clippers of the B.C. Hockey League.
Game time Sunday is 1 p.m. at Minoru Arenas.
