It's not that Jake Kelly has never felt the thrill of victory during his time with Laurentian Voyageurs lacrosse. It's simply that it's been far too long between enjoying that experience.
The current coach of the squad and five year veteran as a keeper and occasional attacker with the team (2015 - 2019) has to go back October 6th (2018) to recall a 12-11 win over the University of Toronto Blues.
Michael Mayes (3 goals), Mike Kussman (3), Patrick Fitzhenry (2), Adam Elinsky (2) and Matt Smith (2) handled the scoring on that day while Kelly backstopped his team through the narrowest of margins.
"I started playing when I was three or four and played to 21 when I aged out of juniors," said the native of Courtice (ON) who came to Laurentian following a year with the Hill Academy prep powerhouse (where they claimed a North American championship).
"In box lacrosse, I played offense - but then it was grade seven, I think, and my field team needed a goalie. I played goalie in hockey and everyone assumed that it was easy to take the hockey goalie and plug him into the field lacrosse net."
Though that is not always a recipe for success, perhaps even seldom a recipe for success, it did work for young Jake Kelly.
"A lot of the skills that I had from just playing lacrosse, that hand-eye coordination and stuff, they transferred to field goalie - and I had quick reaction times."
As he begins his fourth season at the helm of the L.U. lacrosse crew, having welcomed former teammate Matt Delabbio to the coaching fraternity last year, Kelly can recall times when the Voyageurs teetered right around the .500 mark in CVUFLA (Canadian University Field Lacrosse Association) standings.
In 2016, Laurentian posted a record of 5-7, slipping back one game to 4-8 the next fall. The 2-10 campaign in 2018 marked the last time that the "W" column showed something other than a zero, with Kelly suggesting that targetting a win this fall, perhaps against Toronto, McMaster or Nipissing, is a realistic goal.
"We've had those "you know that yhou're there" moments," he suggested. "But we have a wide range in talent and there's no enough depth. That's where the difference is: numbers."
Still, he returns, now working full-time with Vale following his graduation from Laurentian. At least as importantly, Jake Kelly knows full well exactly what he's up against.
"I was raised to be a realist," he said with a smile. "I had been with the team long enough, especially those last couple of years before I coached where I knew what was and wasn't realistic."
Despite all this, there wasn't much in the way of second thoughts when he was approached about guiding the ship through what became an even more difficult time as the university faced well-publicized financial challenges.
"It was an easy transition for me because I wanted to make sure that there was still a program," said Kelly. "As a coach, it was almost a matter of just trying to keep it afloat."
That said, with a bulk of returnees that includes the likes of stalwart midfielders Logan Burns and Isaac Story-Korman and a strong push by Delabbio, in particular, to try and attract talent north, Kelly remains hopeful this is the year.
He certainly has been patient enough.
