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WLA Power Rankings: Still no signs of any sort of separation amongst the leaders

Curtis Dickson has the Maple Ridge Burrards flying high in the WLA rankings. (Photo: Dan Brodie)

It might be time for everyone to start paying attention to the races in the WLA this year cause it’s an incredible battle. No team has yet to take a strangle hold on the standings and every game is up for grabs as we continue to see teams carousel their victories. Fantastic match-up Friday night as the Shamrocks host the Burrards in the game of the week and if it is anything like the last time these two played it will be a frantic back and forth game that will have the Bear Mountain crowd on edge the entire game.

We’re still awaiting the WLA debut of Ben MacIntosh with the Burrards and that can only mean good things for that franchise as they look to continue flexing their muscle as a top team in the entire country. READ MORE »

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Burnaby Lakers to retire Russ Heard’s No. 9

Russ Heard

Russ Heard saw a lot, and scored a lot, during his days with the Burnaby Lakers. So much so that the Lakers will bestow upon Heard the ultimate honor and retire his No. 9 sweater on July 5. The big right-hander helped the Lakers reach 3 WLA finals, although he never was able to advance to a Mann Cup series. The closest he ever got was in 1993, when the Lakers lost a Game 7 double-overtime game to Coquitlam. He came close again in the final 2 years of his WLA career, with the Adanacs, but looking back, he told Burnaby Now that he ultimately had hoped for Mann appearance with the Lakers in the early 1990s. “You know what? You want to win a Mann Cup with the guys you battled with.” READ MORE »

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Last night: Lakers top Shamrocks, Warriors upend Arrows, Northmen move into first

Curtis Knight had 6 points as the Warriors downed the Arrows Friday night. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

The topsy-turvy world that is Canadian lacrosse in the summer of 2013 went for a couple more loops Friday night. The Western Lacrosse Association leading Victoria Shamrocks suffered their second loss of the season, which also happened to be just the second win for the Burnaby Lakers. In Ontario Lacrosse Association Junior A action, the purported Minto Cup favourite Six Nations Arrows got outscored 7-3 in the third period by the Whitby Warriors to drop their third straight game, falling 14-9.

In Burnaby, neither team led by more than a single goal until past the midway point of the third period. Victoria outshot the Lakers 57-46 but Joe Bell turned aside 46 shots and three players posted 6 or more points to lead Burnaby to the win: Dane Stevens (3g, 5a), Scott Jones (3, 4), Colton Clark (1, 5). Rhys Duch and Corey Small each had hat tricks for the Shamrocks. READ MORE »

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WLA Power Rankings: Shamrocks go .500, Adanacs and Lakers get first wins

The winds of change don’t like to stay long out west. Well actually they just never stop blowing so it seems like they’ve left after three weeks of Western Lacrosse Association action. Victoria stays atop the WLA Power Rankings but could’ve dropped a few spots just as the Burrards could have moved even higher had the Bellies not put their foot down. But in 2013 that’s just the way it goes out west. Former Victoria Shamrocks’ player Andrew Suitor, who’s sitting out this year rehabbing an NLL knee injury, went to twitter to give his two cents about the play out west: “@Suits20: Love how competitive the WLA is this year! high intensity and you can be held accountable! Figure it out ola! Leave our game alone #union?”

Now that’s not to say there isn’t some excellent ball being played out East, cause there is, but every game out west is a dog fight and not even a coin toss would decide things. Winning streaks came to an end while some were started but it all means that each game is as competitive as the last and the next one will be even better. READ MORE »

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WLA Power Rankings- Clash of the titans highlights week 2 out west

1- Victoria Shamrocks (2) 4-0
Last Week: W 14-8 Burnaby,
This Week: W8-7  Langley, @ Maple Ridge
An early season clash of the titans Friday on the Island saw  the Rocks come out on top of the Thunder to remain the only unbeaten team in the league. Victoria had Rhys Duchin the lineup last night making his return to the WLA. Only Matt Vinc has yet to make his presence felt this year out west. Chemistry hasn’t been an issue so far this year for the Rocks and their defense has stepped up nicely to complement a potent attack. Matt Flindell has been excellent between the pipes for the Rocks as he’s now 4-0 and has a stifling 7 GAA. READ MORE »

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Last night: Shamrocks pull out tight battle for first place over Thunder

The Victoria Shamrocks and Langley Thunder entered their game Friday night tied for first place in the Western Lacrosse Association. With three minutes to play, there was still nothing to choose between them. It was only Cory Conway’s goal at 17:17 of the third period that broke the tie and gave the Shamrocks an 8-7 win and bragging rights atop the league, at least for now. Victoria, behind 3 goals from Scott Ranger, had taken a 7-5 lead through two periods. Third-period markers from Shayne Jackson and Scott Johnston, each of whom had 2 goals for the game, had evened things up. Matt Flindell made 31 saves on 38 shots to secure the win for the Shamrocks, while Brodie MacDonald stopped 29 of the 37 shots on the Langley net. READ MORE »

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WLA Power Rankings: Langley is the team to beat, again, but Thunder will be pushed

B.C. lacrosse fans have the luxury in 2013 to be able to watch both the Minto Cup and Mann Cup battled for on the left coast and the competition for both couldn’t be more heated. The Western Lacrosse Association season will be just as intense as it was in 2012 as six teams try and dethrone the back-to-back defending champs from Langley. Even before the season started, there was some serious turnover throughout the league in regards to player personnel as every team wants to be able to call itself the WLA’s best team and have the opportunity to win the west’s first Mann Cup since 2005 while putting an end to the Major Series Lacrosse’s seven-season reign as the Kings of Canada. Each week we’ll break down the seven teams and rank them subjectively and then you can all email/text/tweet/carrier pigeon me your thoughts, telling me how wrong you think I am. READ MORE »

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Last night: Shamrocks and Timbermen win Western Lacrosse Association openers

Defender Ben McCullough was named third star of Victoria's season-opening WLA win.

The Victoria Shamrocks have been loading up for a run at the Mann Cup this year. The early returns are positive—in the form of a 10-6 season-opening win over Coquitlam in which they outshot the Adanacs 63-39. The Shamrocks ran out to a 4-0 lead after the first period and only high save percentages by Nick Rose (.833 in the first period) and Adam Shute (.846 the rest of the way) kept the margin of victory from being bigger.

Scott Ranger scored a hat trick and Cory Conway assisted on 7 of the Shamrocks’ 10 goals. Corey Small scored once and added 4 assists to help Victoria’s cause. Shamrocks’ goalie Matt Flindell posted the exact same numbers as Shute did—33 saves on 39 shots—to earn the win.

Coquitlam’s scoring was spread around with six different players scoring goals. Eastern import Jesse Guerin was their points leader with a goal and 2 assists in his WLA debut. Guerin finished second in Major Series Lacrosse last year with 22 goals and 37 assists for 59 points in 14 games. READ MORE »

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Ben McIntosh the first among many Junior Adanacs headlining last night’s WLA draft

Ben McIntosh was the first pick in the 2013 WLA draft held last night. (Photo: Tim Prothero)

When half of the players on a team that has represented the BC Junior A Lacrosse League at the last four Minto Cups graduates in one year, it creates a rich draft for the Western Lacrosse Association. That scenario played itself out last night in one of the strongest WLA drafts in years, if not ever. Four graduates of the Coquitlam Junior Adanacs were taken in the first round and 10 in the first six rounds, headed by the Big Four of Ben McIntosh, Jeff Cornwall, Robert Church and Matthew Dinsdale being snapped up among the first five picks.

The Maple Ridge Burrards opened proceedings at the Langley Events Centre last night by taking righty forward McIntosh, who scored 3 goals per game (27g, 15a, 42pts in 9 games) after returning to the Adanacs from school partway through last summer and finished second in scoring at the 2012 Minto Cup. READ MORE »

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Burnaby Lakers making coaching change: Bob Johnston is out and Rory McDade is in

Johnston (left), and McDade.

It’s not so much a coaching change as it is a transition, say the Burnaby Lakers. No matter how you phrase it, though, Bob Johnston is out as coach and Rory McDade is in. Johnston told the Royal City Record that he would have liked another season to coach the team he led to a 9-7-2 record last summer and a first-round playoff exit. But general manager Paul Rowbotham said the new direction of the game called for a new coach. “I think (Johnston) was ready to move upstairs. Twice we made the playoffs. I thought it was just time,” Rowbotham told the Royal City Record. “We looked at it. Rory was ready to coach. It is more of a transition.” McDade has been a player/assistant coach for the Lakers and has spent his entire playing career with the Lakers. “The game is changing,” said Rowbotham. “I think of it as a change, and after three years, I think (Johnston) pushed them as far as he could push them.” The WLA draft is Feb. 4 and the Lakers open their WLA season at home on May 17.