Column #8 Sat Oct 04, 1997 Here is the FernsWEB 97 final column The box lacrosse year peaked this season, as it usually does, with the Mann Cup. The fever and interest out west was incredible. The city of Victoria especially, couldn't get enough of their lacrosse. Even casual observers turned into staunch lacrosse afficianodoes as they cheered their Shamrocks on. On the Lower Mainland of BC. southern Ontario and the New York region of the U.S. the feelings seemed to be the same. The Mann Cup 97 web site I set up was the most popular site we've had in two years by a country mile... My question is where are those feelings during the regular season. With attendance sometimes in the 200 to 500 range is this enough to sustain our great game of box lacrosse? I know each year we bemoan the problems we have and look to solutions. But each year at the end of the season (Mann and Minto Cup), the fans seem to return and we relax again. The rearrangement of the Mill into the NLL will perhaps increase, again, the focus and popularity of the game. This seems to be the only box game which is consistently popular. Let's hope the Ontario and BC leagues can take some of their strategies and adopt them in our game. The lacrosse game of choice in the U.S. is field lacrosse. The spread of the field game is now into the midwest, the south and on the Pacific Coast. Where we used to herald our box skills over the field boys, their stick skills have now caught up. They start as early now as our young box leagues and they have more players, leagues and and officials. Our box game only started in the forties and has been the game of choice of Canadians since then. However it is only resident in spotty areas of BC, Ontario and Alberta. We must do something to jump start the box game in other areas of Canada and increase the popularity locally. I've heard the gloom and doom cries for years and years about the demise of the box game. However, I'm now afraid that it may be too late to do something about it. Sorry to end the season on a bit of a down note but maybe we need a bit of a wake up call so we can have many more successful box seasons. For fernsWEB 97, this is Daryl
Column #7 Sat, 06 Sept 1997 Mann Cup 97 (web site is at: http://www.fernweb.com/bclax/manncup97/) BC and particularly Vancouver Island is alive with Mann Cup 97 fever. Talking to people trying to buy tickets they report being in lineups up to four hours in length. The telephone number to purchase tickets is constantly busy. The last I heard about TV coverage is that the local cable company (Shaw) is broadcasting the games live to Vancouver Island--other than Victoria. Rogers Cable (Lower Mainland of BC), cannot drop their regularly scheduled programming to show the games. We hope to see them taped delay but don't know for sure about that situation. The Shamrocks haven't won the Mann Cup since 1983 but are poised to capture it in 97. They feel it is their destiny to win it at home this year. The Shamrocks team is solid throughout their lineup with goaltenders Marty O'Neil and Bob Heyes taking up the goaltending chores. Of course Gary Gait and Tom Marachek rate a couple of notices as well. Niagara is not known very well out west, other than names such as Kilgour, Mearns and a few others. The Gamblers, I've heard, are a well-disciplined, hard working team. They must be to get out of the tough eastern league. We all hope the series is played, hard, skillfully and with intensity. Leave the goonery out... Minto Cup 97 Whitby Warriors again came back from being down 2 - 0 to defeat the Burnaby Lakers 4 - 2 in the Minto Cup. The Lakers were a strong, well balanced squad, so hats off to the Warriors. Apparently they should be just as strong next year, as their don't graduate too many players. It should be a real battle again with Six Nations to travel out west next year where we host the Minto Cup. Burnaby Lakers should be the team to beat again next year although the Port Coquitlam Saints will also be in the running. The Lakers will need a goaltender and someone to replace Nick Trudeau's scoring. The Saints, only a third year Jr. A team, battled the Lakers right down to the wire for the league title but faltered in the playoffs, losing in straight games to the Coquitlam Adanacs. They probably have the best feeder system in the country right now. Are we ever going to see Jr. A lacrosse in the Prairies or Quebec? Canadian Jr. Men's Field Championship Oshawa Blue Knights run at the Canadian Championships was halted as the BC Selects beat Team Alberta 9 - 8 in overtime, in Oshawa. The Knights suffered because of the Whitby Warriors success. The team's share players and Minto Cup is more important (at this time) to the field lacrosse championships. Although I heard that all of the Ontario teams were weaker than we've seen in years. Hope it's only a blip on the big picture. We need strong teams throughout Canada for the field game to thrive.
Column #6 Aug 18, 1997 Lakers vs Warriors The Burnaby Lakers, arguably the most successful Jr. A franchise the west has ever had, flies east this week to take on the eastern champion Whitby Warriors. The Lakers fought tooth and nail with the Port Coquitlam Saints all season long before capturing the league championship in a double head to head matchup at the end of the season. However the long awaited playoff series never took place as the Saints were upset in the first round by their nemesis, the Coquitlam Adanacs. The Lakers on the other hand pretty well cruised to the championship with a 3 and 4 game sweep of the New Westminster Salmonbellies and then the Adanacs. The Lakers were challenged in a few of these seven games but always managed to find a way to win. This is a mark of a championship type team. The Lakers have good depth in all positions, a lot of experience and good coaching. All crucial ingredients for a Minto Cup contender. They also only lose 3 players to graduation this year so will again be contenders in 1998, when the Minto is played out west. The Warriors, from our long range view seemed to have more trouble in their series' than expected. They lost a couple of games to Peterborough and then the Six Nations Arrows took them to the limit. The Arrows seem to be a real spunky squad who don't give respect to anyone. They just go all out looking for a win. Depending on their losses to graduation they could be the team to beat next year in the east. I also notice their Jr. B team, the Red Rebels made it to the final of their championship, so their players depth must be excellent. The Lakers will have to overcome the same things all visiting travelling teams must. The styles between eastern and western Canada are always a little different. The referee's calls are always subject to interpretation, which takes a game or two for the visiting team to adjust. The fans, atmosphere, hotel rooms are all things which weigh heavily in favour of the home town guys. I like the Burnaby Lakers in this series because of their depth, experience and because they took the highly respected Orangeville team to overtime of the seventh game last year. The Northmen were one of the highest rated Jr. A teams in a long while and the Lakers gave them everything they could handle. I think this will help Burnaby's confidence and assist the coaches in their ability to get Burnaby to believe that they can win the Minto out east. The Warriors have the legendary Jim Bishop coaching them but I don't know if this is a plus or a minus in the equation. I talked to many of his squad when they played for Oshawa Blue Knights in a Field Lacrosse Championship we hosted last August. I was surprised their comments weren't more positive... Let's hope the series is as long and entertaining for the eastern fans as it was for us last year. If it is all I can say is, GET YOUR TICKETS...
Column #5 Updated Aug 3, 1997 I'm back... Sorry about the delay since the last update but I'm afraid sometimes there aren't enough hours in the day to do everything you would like. Off the floor The health update on Ted Fridge is a good one. Ted has recovered from his mild stroke of a month ago and seems to be on track to a complete recovery. He is out at the games and visiting with the fans and players in attendance. That is a fine sight to see for all us lacrosse fans. Jr. A - BC Boy has it been a surprising time in the BC Jr. A league. First off, the Victoria Shamrocks ran out of gas during the home stretch and the New Westminster Jr. Salmonbellies caught them for the final playoff spot. A coaching change in mid-term seemed to revitalize the Bellies and they played good ball from then on in. Bad luck to catch Burnaby Lakers in the first round as the Lakers won the series in straight games. The Poco Saints had a tough ending to their season as well. The Saints, in only their third year of existence, had battled the Lakers for first place all year, only to lose two close games at season's end. This put the Saints into second place against the Coquitlam Adanacs in their semi-final round. The Adanacs and coach Frank Nielsen obviously had a superb game plan in effect as they surprised the Saints with a 3 game sweep of their own! My top individual players in this series were, Coquitlam's goaltender Ryan Williams, Dick Martin (for his checking on Peter Morgan), and Bruce Murray for his checking on everybody... It was a tough way to end the season for the Poco squad but they will be back next year with another good squad. The Lakers take on the Jr. Adanacs in the West Championship beginning Aug 5 at Burnaby. As much as the Adanacs are on a real high right now I'm going with the Lakers in 5 games with this one. Too much depth on the Burnaby squad. One caveat here, if Coquitlam goaltender Ryan Williams can continue his outstanding play (and he hasn't against Burnaby this year), then this series could go a little longer. Out of nowhere All season long we watched Port Coquitlam's Jake Lawson and Burnaby Laker's Nick Trudeau fight for the scoring championship. In the last game of the season Trudeau needed to get 4 points to edge Lawson, well Nick did accomplish his task getting 6 points. However, teammate Cam Sedgewick had a 10 point final game and edged Trudeau 101 points to 100. We'd all forgotten about Sedgewick who everyone thinks is the most underrated player in the league. I understand they had Trudeau on the floor trying to get him another point so they could share the championship but they just couldn't get it done. That would have been a nice touch from the Lakers... WLA The regular season was as good as it gets, with every playoff position up for grabs until the last two games of the season. A shame the New Westminster Salmonbellies missed the post season--first time in 30-odd years they won't be in the battle for the Mann Cup. Semi-final 1 Shamrocks vs Adanacs You'd think that the Shamrocks would be odds on favourites in this one. But then everyone thought the Rocks would walk to the league title, only to win it on the last game of the season. The Adanacs on the other hand battled, fought and clawed their way all season. Coquitlam respects no one, you have to battle them all over the floor if you wish to come out victorious. The A's goaltending duo of O'Toole and Eliuk are the best one-two punch in the game and you have to figure they may steal a game or two in the series. The series is 1 - 1 at present with a long way to go yet... Semi-final 2 Indians vs Burrards The first two games of the series were 8 - 7 for the home team. Both were outstanding games and the fans really got their money's worth. The third game (13 - 8 for North Shore), was a bit of a blood bath with the referees calling the game with :19 seconds remaining because of all the fights... Maple Ridge has similar talent to the Indians and should be able to give them all they can take. I figure this will be a six or seven game series. Back East The Jr. A league back east also had a surprising development with last year's Minto Cup Champion Orangeville Northmen being swept by the upstart Six Nations Chiefs. The Chiefs now advance to the Eastern Championship against the Whitby Warriors. The Warriors took longer than expected (six games) to defeat Peterborough. The big money is on Whitby but then it was on Orangeville as well... A further note on Six Nations, they have a team competing for the championship in Sr. A, Jr. A and Jr. B, now that's what I call depth! The Senior A loop begins their playoffs this week with Niagara vs Brooklin and Brampton vs Six Nations.
Column #4 Sun July 13, 1997 Off the floor Off the floor hasn't been a particularly good week for lacrosse fans I'm afraid to say. The quick passing of longtime lacrosse player/coach Bill Munroe left us all shocked. Bill was one of the positives in the game and his many players, teammates and friends wish his family well in these hard times. More bad news as another long time lacrosse friend, Ted Fridge (currently General Manager of the Maple Ridge Burrards), had a mild stroke last week and is recovering in the hospital. I will keep everyone up to date as I receive more information. Ted had retired from his school principal job two weeks ago. Coach threatens player The Poco/Victoria Jr. A game had an ugly ending to their affair. One of the Victoria coaches actually walked up to a Poco player and threatened that he would be "dead" if they ended up meeting in the playoffs. Excuse me? And the league allows this? Junior A incidents A pre-game fighting incident in last week's Coquitlam/Burnaby matchup has left some questions unanswered. What was the Coquitlam player doing on the floor if he isn't on the roster of the team? Will there be any repercussions from this situation? There are rules in the league bylaws... In this same game there were many fights. I wonder how many would have continued if the players had to remove their helmets before they went "manno a manno"? Perhaps we should instigate a rule that if you want to fight, take off your helmet and "go for it". Methinks the toughness of most players would quickly go away... In one of the fights a Burnaby player had his jaw broken when high sticked. He also dislocated his shoulder when reaching for the Coquitlam offender and then still stood toe to toe until the encounter entered. I wonder if there was a penalty on the high stick? The Jr. A league will see the first place Port Coquitlam Saints and second place Burnaby Lakers go at it twice this week. Thursday, in Poco and Sunday in Burnaby. Burnaby should be rested, while Poco travels to Coquitlam on Wednesday night. That should be an advantage for Burnaby. Seems they got the same advantage last month. Hmm? WLA The race in the Western Lacrosse Association is as tight as I've seen in 20 years. Teams can go up or down 4 spots depending how they do that week. Burnaby's Russ Heard still leads all scorers which is a terrific feat considering the plight of the Lakers. The Bellies Geordie Dean hit 1400 career points this week. Seems like only yesterday when Geordie started out in his first year, making the Pee Wee A team I coached in Coquitlam (hope that doesn't age me too much). I thought at that time he was a superb athlete but didn't realize how outstanding a lacrosse player he would be for the game. Way to go Geordie. I heard that I was mentioned by Brad Downey as one of the most influential people in his lacrosse career. A special thanks to Brad for the mention, it's always nice to know people appreciate the efforts coaches put in... And let me say to Brad that this goes both ways!! New Professional Lacrosse League For those fans unaware, there is a new professional lacrosse league back east. The National Lacrosse League has signed both Paul and Gary Gait and will go head-to-head with the MILL (Major Indoor Lacrosse League). It sounds that the new league has been able to remove the MILL from some of the top cities (Rochester, Philadelphia), and is trying to convince the top players to move over to the new league. The NLL will have individual owners instead of being run by the league.
Column #3 Sunday June 22, 1997 I noticed that Orangeville goaltender and 1996 Minto Cup MVP Jim Rankin is playing goal for the Nanaimo Timbermen of the BC Sr. B league. He is being coached by another old time Orangeville goaltender--Mac Maude. Maude came out to BC in 1979 (some say he started driving west and didn't stop till he hit the ocean). Maude played for many WLA clubs out this way but is best known for his many seasons as the Victoria Shamrocks goaltender, including the Mann Cup he won in 1983. The Senior B league is very competitive this season as the Ladner Pioneers will host the Canadian Championship at the end of the summer. It should be a great championship and we are looking forward to the tournament. The race in the WLA was changed dramatically this week as the North Shore Indians lost 10 points (5 wins) in the standings. Pete Skye was not officially transferred and played in 7 games. The CLA and WLA have ruled against the Indians, although there is an appeal scheduled to be heard this week. That has really rocked the standings out here. I had some discussions with Coquitlam Adanacs management recently and if plans work out, they could be bolstered next season by a few more eastern additions. I'm not at liberty to say who, but I know I would pay to watch these two play lacrosse out west. A hint (they've both played out here before....) They are very happy with the Orangeville connection and I see Rusty Kruger is in 16th spot in WLA scoring with 30 points in 14 games. Speaking of old eastern prospects, Moe Jodoin was out at the Saints practice the other day giving pointers... Jodoin played many years with the Sr. Adanacs and I believe he is also an Orangeville alumnus, but I stand to be corrected on that one. The Jr. A league was highlighted last week when the undefeated Port Coquitlam Saints hosted the second place Burnaby Lakers. It's pretty well a two team race out here with the Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs sometimes making a game out of it. The Saints, Lakers matchup was an outstanding game, back and forth with many lead changes. The Lakers outlasted the Saints 14 - 13 to climb back even in league standings. They only play each other twice more in the league and that doesn't occur until the last two games of the season, more than a month from now.
Column #2 View from the west: As we peer over the mountains looking eastward, I am surprised by the relatively low standings of the Six Nations Chiefs. Could we be seeing a new champion from out east in 1997? Surely, the expansion Niagara Falls Gamblers couldn't go from a new team to champions in one year? Or could they? Of course Brampton will have a say in this equation. It's always nice when new teams make a race for a championship. There must be a reason why the Kilgours and Randy Mearns moved from Six Nations to Niagara. Why didn't Tavares join them? Just curious... Where is Troy Cordingly? The Whitby Junior A team looks to have a battle on their hands this season, again from the Orangeville Northmen. We had heard that Whitby was the team to beat and Orangeville would be in a rebuilding year. I guess we'll have to clean our ears... The Western WLA (your Major league), standings seem to change each week. The Victoria Shamrocks had been "given" the league title this year, with the most talent and depth in the league. I'm afraid the 'Rocks must have grease on their fingers as they find themselves tied for the last playoff spot with the Coquitlam Adanacs. Each week finds another team in first place, it is a great race this season. WLA rumour of the week has John Tavares joining the Victoria Shamrocks for the last half of the season. This is obviously someones idea of a joke as the Chiefs, I'm sure, wouldn't allow him to leave. It would involve money, which the Shamrocks don't have, and many more considerations. Just a note from the news out west. Wednesday night the Shamrocks and Paul Gait, travel to the home of the North Shore Indians to face the first place team, with Gary Gait in the lineup. It will be the first chance for Lower Mainland fans to see the Gait vs Gait matchup. Should be a sold out arena in North Vancouver. Our Junior A league finds the third-year Port Coquitlam Saints undefeated after 11 games, with the Burnaby Lakers (last year's western Minto Cup representative), right behind them, with a single loss. The Saints face the much improved Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs on Wednesday and then face the tough Lakers the next night. It brings great lacrosse to the fans when the Saints face the Lakers. Look for a full house at Port Coquitlam on Thursday night. Eastern players out west: We seem to have a number of eastern players playing for some of our western teams. Players like Krueger, Sandersons, Doddridge, Disher, Trudeau, Rosa, MacArthur and others are making a name for themselves and helping their teams. I hope they all enjoy themselves out here on the wet coast...
Column #1 I spoke with League Statistician Barry Rankin, of Victoria, and he was telling me the Shamrocks crowds have been great early in the season. They drew 1780 fans for their first home game and just over 1800 on Friday for North Shore, when Paul Gait was a surprise player for the Indians. They expect around 3000 fans when North Shore returns next Thursday (May 29), when it will be Gait vs Gait, as Paul suits up for North Shore and Gary for Victoria. I would think Maple Ridge's return visit will also draw a large crowd, circle June 25 on your calendar for that one. One last word on the play of Gary Gait tonight. I will always pay to go to games which feature skill and action. I more than got my money's worth tonight.... Gary Gait does things with his stick that most mortals can't even think of, let alone execute. If you get a chance to pay and see one of the Gait's play, YOU WILL BE ENTERTAINED! If these guys played hockey, you'd be talking about them in the same breath as Gretzky!!! And this may be their last year. Thats the view from out west for now... Daryl