Gord Dunphy's Soccer Blog: Dunphy's Corner : St. Lawrence Laurentians are the team to beat in 2017.

DUNPHY'S CORNER

Gord Dunphy

St. Lawrence Laurentians have won 25 Championships

in the 50 year history of NLSA Challenge Cup

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Laurentians again are the favorite in 2017

If early goings of the 2017 season are any indication of what 2017 Molson Challenge Cup season are all about, I predict the St. Lawrence Laurentian's are the team to beat this season. I realize they lost their opening game to Mount Pearl by a 1-0 score but sometimes upsets occur where a team may have a dominating performance and still lose the contest. If early goings are a further indication, it appears Holy Cross maybe still a good team but their loss of coach Jake Stanford and some key players will definitely stop their dominance in league play.

Laurentian - Coaching Staff

St. Lawrence are currently led by the best coaching staff in the league with Derek Strang and Paul Slaney at the helm. Derek at times may be very shrewd coach, while Paul only appears to be a mellow dude, he too can add an arm of shrewdness. However or whatever, put both of these different personalities together and the Laurentians have proven winners behind their bench.

Laurentians key players

The Laurentians are strong down the middle. They have John Douglas , the best goalie in the league . They have captain Marc Pittman, top defender in the league and Jordi Slaney, who in my estimate is the best midfielder in the Challenge Cup League. Besides this, the Laurentian have Stefan Slaney who can be their "ACE IN THE HOLE" if he is physically fit. Personally, I like Sean Drew. I feel he is the most under-rated player in the league. The Laurentians are very keen in their development process, they continue to develop players such as Adam Kelly , Shane Perrott , Mike Gregory, Patrick Slaney Jordan Caines, Daniel Carew, Parker Doyle and Brent Hennebury and make them appreciate every minute of playing time they get.

2017 - Loses vs Additions

This year the Laurentians may have lost the regular services of future HOF'er Clinton Edwards and journeyman Darren Pike but they have added some quality players; George Lawton - Former UNB Captain, Mark Breto - Ghana, and Devon Ryan - former CBS Strikers player . It's really a little early yet for me to give a good assessment of these players who have the honor of wearing one of the most respected amateur soccer jersey in all of Canada. However, I did like like my first look at George Lawton but only time will tell. These new players will really need to go to St. Lawrence and play on St. Lawrence Day to get a real feel for the Laurentian tradition and what it means to play for this prestigious club. I also understand that Corey Mullett - former Holy Cross player is again back wearing the blue and white this year. Corey can add some debt to the 2017 Laurentians team.

DEREK STRANG ; PAUL SLANEY