Two Thunder Down Under with representing Canada

Cowichan Valley Thunder forward Addison Urquhart and minor lacrosse U17 graduate Jesse Bell travelled to Melbourne, Australia to play with the Canadian Lacrosse League’s U20 Canadian men in the 2025 International Indoor Junior Lacrosse (IIJL) Commonwealth Cup.  

The event ran Feb. 15-18.

Not to be confused with Lacrosse Canada and the Canadian national team, the CLL U20 team is a hand-picked travel team dedicated to giving high-level players international experience.

Cowichan Valley Thunder's Chris Claxton has coached both players and sees nothing but benefits from playing with the travel team.

"Any time you get new coaches and new experiences it's a good thing," he said. "It'll be good for them."

It's also good for lacrosse here in the Cowichan Valley.

Claxton, the former Cowichan Valley Lacrosse Association president, said it's a good opportunity for kids that might not get noticed in other ways.

"This is another route," he said. "I think it just shows that players from our region can still get recognized and picked up to play at that level and hope it inspires some of the younger kids coming up that they can do the same."

The format of the tournament sees Canada playing three Australia-based teams once each and then playing for the Commonwealth Cup against an all-star team made up of their three opponents. 

On Feb. 15 Canada met the Melbourne Storm to begin round robin play. The following day they faced off against the Adelaide Thunder. 

On Feb. 17 Canada's team played Perth Fury and the next day they wrapped the Commonwealth Cup final up against Australia.

Due to the Family Day holiday, the scores weren't available by the Citizen's press deadline though Claxton expected both players to make an impact for Canada.

"Addison did really good for us last year," said Claxton, who is Cowichan's Junior B coach. "He worked his butt off and he's got aspiration to play at the higher level and this will give him more tools in his tool box."

Urquhart also plays junior hockey with the Kerry Park Islanders. 

As for Bell, "he must be one of the younger kids on this team," Claxton added. "That's a really good chance for him. He's a great kid and he works hard and it's his work ethic that's put him in the spot where he's at now."