Johnny Powless, who is at Langley Events Centre with Six Nations this week for the Minto Cup against Coquitlam, has been there before, with Rochester against Vancouver in the NLL. (Larry Palumbo photo.)
Johnny Powless taking part in the Minto Cup is a little like Nathan MacKinnon popping up again in junior hockey.
Colorado Avalanche fans need not fret. It would take something off-the-charts absurd for that to happen to MacKinnon, the NHL rookie of the year last season after producing 24 goals and 63 points. He celebrates his 19th birthday next month, though, which means he’s still age eligible for junior.
Lacrosse is a different animal, especially with its rival summer and winter systems. Powless, 21, who leads the Six Nations Arrows up against the Coquitlam Adanacs at the Langley Events Centre this week in the best-of-seven Minto to decide Canada’s Junior A club champion, has already played three seasons in the pro National Lacrosse League with the Rochester Knighthawks.
The left-hander from Ohsweken, Ont., hasn’t had a bit part there, either. He has put up 173 points in a combined 72 regular and playoff games in the three winters, helping Rochester win the league banner each time.
One of the precious few players ever to forgo their college eligibility to enter the NLL, Powless has been the youngest participant in the league all three of his seasons. Tyler Digby, the Vancouver Stealth’s rookie find last season, is two years older, for instance.
“Playing against men, the talent is more spread out,” explained Arrows coach Marshall Abrams, whose Brantford, Ont. area crew tangles with a prodigy this week itself in Coquitlam’s Wesley Berg, a member of Canada’s senior men’s field world champions.
“Playing junior, Johnny has a target on his back, but he does well with it. He knows that he has to play through the shadowing, the extra attention.”
The NLL experience is just part of the unusual route that Powless has taken so far. He doesn’t have a Minto, but he already has Mann Cup , after helping the Six Nations Chiefs as a call-up beat the Victoria Shamrocks last season for the Senior A men’s national crown. Powless counted five goals and 10 points in the six-game set.
He didn’t play a regular season game this season with the Arrows, due to an undisclosed injury picked up with Rochester. He returned for playoffs, and led the Ontario loop with 63 points, including 21 goals, in 13 games. He finished 11 points in front of his nearest competitor and 21 ahead of the next highest-scoring Six Nations player.
“I don’t think there’s added pressure,” the 5-foot-11, 175-pound Powless explained of being back in junior. “It’s a team sport.
“I’m excited. I’ve been trying to get a Minto for five years. And these are a lot of the guys that I grew up playing with.”
Coming through the ranks, Powless says he admired Colin Doyle, 36, and John Grant, Jr., 39, who are now among his rivals in the NLL. Abrams likens him to John Tavares, 45, in that he’s equal parts scorer and passer, equal parts athletic and crafty.
Praise in lacrosse doesn’t get much better. Tavares completed his 23rd NLL season with the Buffalo Bandits this winter. He’s the all-time leading scorer in both the NLL and the summer club version of the club.
“He’s a complete player,” Abrams said of Powless. “It’s not very often you come across a player like that. He’s one of those special players.”
