The Ladner Pioneers will take aim at ending a long west coast drought when they head back east later this month to defend their title at the President’s Cup senior “B” national lacrosse championships.
The last B.C. team to repeat as champions was the Vernon Tigers way back in 1976. The Pioneers are leaning on the same ingredients that delivered them success in Edmonton a year ago including a roster sprinkled with National Lacrosse League (NLL) standouts.
It resulted in winning a third straight West Coast Senior Lacrosse Association (WCSLA) championship in dominant fashion, but the time has come when long-time coach Ross Frehlick will find out if there is enough depth to outduel teams from around the country that also have plenty of NLL talent.
The tournament will once again feature seven participants, including the host Oakville Rock that opted not to floor a team in the Ontario Major Series Lacrosse (Senior A) for the second straight year to pour all their energy and resources into hosting the senior “B” nationals.
The Rock went 15-1 in the regular season led by the league’s top two scorers Ryan Lanchbury (Georgia Swarm) and Josh Dawick (Toronto Rock).
The Pioneers will face Oakville on Aug. 30, their second round-robin game of the day. Ladner will play six round-robin games over five days, hoping to secure a berth directly to the gold medal game on Saturday, Sept. 2. The second and third place teams will play off the day before for the other championship game berth.
“Our schedule is not as bad as it was a year ago. We figured we would be playing Oakville for our second-round robin game, but we will have an opportunity to put ourselves in the driver’s seat (for a first-place finish) and have a full day of rest before the final,” said Frehlick.
Following their WCSLA championship win over Victoria, the team took a week off before ramping up President’s Cup preparations. The Pioneers will leave for Oakville on Aug. 25 and get a practice in the following day before their opening game.
Ladner should be especially solid at the back end with reigning NLL MVP Christian Del Bianco in net and some outstanding defenders in front of him including 2022 first team all-star Sam Clare, along with NLL veterans Matt Beers, Jeff Cornwall and Owen Barker.
Calgary Roughnecks star and WCSLA scoring champion Tyler Pace will again lead the offence.
Frehlick says the trip back east will cost around $33,000 and, again adamantly, defends the club’s decision to use a sponsorship war chest to pay pro players to compete at nationals.
“I guess (the lack of competitive games) is hurting our league, but that doesn’t mean other teams don’t have to try or that we have to be mediocre. We killed everyone in our league back in 2019 and then went (to President’s Cup) and got killed ourselves. Nobody seemed to care then, and we are not going to be doing that anymore. We’re not breaking the rules.”
