By Devan Mighton, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Lakeshore News Reporter
For the first time since 2014, the Windsor Clippers Junior B lacrosse team will start their season with a new bench boss.
Trevor Learn, the team’s fourth head coach since its inception in 2003, is also the first alumnus to take over at the helm.
“At this point, we’re very young, so we’re going to have to rely on working hard,” explains Learn, who played with the team from 2009 until 2014, amassing 93 goals and 248 points in 91 regular season games. “Our game plan is to work hard and be the most in-shape team. We’re going to start there. We’ve got the building blocks to match the pace of the Junior B game. [For our rookies,] the jump is a bit of a step ahead of our minor program – the U17 jump is quite significant – but they are putting in the work.”
Taking over from longtime coach and Windsor Warlocks minor lacrosse president Jerry Kavanaugh, the team Learn has inherited is a young, but hard-working group. Despite their best efforts, last year’s Clippers finished outside of the playoffs for the second time in franchise history, only two seasons removed from winning the Marlene Soulliere Trophy as OJBLL Western Conference champions and playing for the All-Ontario title. Finishing with a 7-13-0 record, the 2024 Clippers never gave up, fighting until the end, missing the final playoff seed one spot behind longtime rivals, the Wallaceburg Red Devils.
“This year’s group is all bought in,” states Learn. “Starting in training camp, and moving into our first few practices, everybody’s on the same page and working hard, showing up on time at dryland, smiling, even at the end of dryland – you know you’ve got a good group when that happens!”
Learn wants to see growth in his first year behind the Clippers’ bench. “I’d like to make playoffs this year,” he says. “I think that’s a good goal for us. I think it’s something we can definitely take care of.”
Fourth year player and 19-year-old LaSalle resident Kane Murphy is excited about the challenges of the upcoming season.
“I think it’ll be a good change up,” states the St. Clair College paramedics student. “It’s a young squad, and I’m looking forward to that, seeing what we can do, how we can improve, and hopefully we can make the playoffs this year – and, we’ll see what happens.”
Murphy put up 16 points in 20 games during the 2024 campaign. “We’ve gotta start and feel it out. Whenever we’re out there, we’ve got to give it 110 per cent,” he says. “We can’t be afraid to get hit, we’ve got to bare down and pick up those tough loose balls. If we do the small things right, I think we’ll have a good chance and we’ll come out well.”
Third year veteran and recent Sandwich Secondary School graduate Owen Coffey is chomping at the bit to get the season going.
“I can’t wait,” states Coffey, an 18-year-old University of Montevallo commit who earned five points in 19 games last year. “I felt we needed some change after how last season went. We came up just short of making the playoffs, and that was something we didn’t want – of course. With the change, we see a lot of younger faces, it’s a very young team, and I’m excited to see what we can do. I think we can make a run for it this year.”
When he looks around the dressing room this year, he sees a team full of players excited to get rolling. “There’s a lot of new guys that have maybe never played junior lacrosse before, but I can see that they’re excited and are ready to work hard and play. That’s all you really need for a team, people who are ready to put in the work and be there – that’s what we want to see around the room. I’ve been waiting all year for this. I’ve been playing in the States and it’s nothing like playing junior with my friends – and the atmosphere here – I just love playing here in The Shipyard. Playing with my friends, it’s an experience you can’t get anywhere else playing lacrosse.”
This season will be Hudson Dalpe’s rookie season with the Clippers. In 2024, pulling double duty with the Warlocks U17’s, Dalpe tallied 15 points in 10 games as an AP with the Clippers.
“I played a little bit last year and it was really fun, I got to play with my brother (Vance),” says the Lakeshore resident, who attends St. Anne’s Catholic High School. “I’m going into my rookie season, so I’m excited to get a full season with the Clips – not just have a limited amount of games to play – and see what we can really do.”
Last summer was a banner season for the rookie, who also earned silver with Team Ontario at the Canadian National Lacrosse Championships in Regina, SK, and was drafted in the second round, 20th overall, by the St. Catharines Athletics in the 2025 OJLL Entry Draft.
“We’ve got a good squad this year,” opines Dalpe. “We’ve got some new guys, we’ve got some American guys, and some returning players. Everybody already knows each other already, we’ve done some team bonding experiences, and I think we look pretty good – we look like we’ve got good chemistry already.”
Joining Learn on the bench will be David Hodgins and Zane Dalpe as offensive co-ordinators, Brayden Bell as defensive co-ordinator and Ken Gough, as equipment manager and trainer.
“The roster is shaping up pretty good,” reports Learn. “We do have a few older guys and they’re going to be part of our leadership team. The core group is very young … and we do have a learning curve there, but I have faith in this group. They have a lot of passion and we’re all working together as hard as we possibly can and, I think that at this point, that is a great standpoint to move forward with.”
In net, the Clippers enter the season with three tenders: veteran MJ Schwager, Mason Jacobs, who played with the Six Nations Rebels last season, and rookie Dan Deters, who was named 2024 Warlocks Goalie of the Year in U17. In addition to Murphy, Coffey, and Dalpe, the Clippers floor will be graced with the likes of Ty Myers, Logan Gough, Connor Scott, Adam Lyder, Keegan McIntyre, Ashton Maluske, Michael Diponio, Gage Soulliere, Vance Dalpe, Keegan Bernier, Keagan Drexler, Luke Morin, Ngwiisus Whiteye, Ajinn Vantassel, and Americans Jacob Hunsinger and Kyle Spondike.
Meanwhile, Owen Arthur, Cahan Lessard-Williams, Jacob Levesque, Gabe Arnett, Sebastian Rail, Nathan Anger, Caleb Whitson, and Liam O’Neill, have all been assigned to the Warlocks U22 squad where they can AP for the Clippers while staying busy.
The Clippers’ season opened on Thursday, Apr 24 against the London Blue Devils. However, their home opener will take place on Saturday, May 3 at 7 p.m. at Forest Glade Arena against the Owen Sound North Stars.
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