PoCo’s Dickson toast of Mann Cup
Local product scores big on ‘home’ turf, leading visiting Lakers to lacrosse title win over Salmonbellies
Curtis Dickson has a Mann Cup to match his father’s, although this one came against the New Westminster Salmonbellies rather than with them.
Dickson, the Port Coquitlam product, bagged two goals and one assist Friday night to help the Peterborough Lakers up-end Salmonbellies 14-10 before an estimated crowd of 2,800 at Queen’s Park Arena to capture the best-of-seven Senior A box lacrosse national championship in six games.
It’s the sixth Mann Cup title for Peterborough since 2004. Dickson, 29, jumped to the Lakers two summers ago to improve his chances of claiming his first Canadian title. He had spent his initial five seasons in Senior A with the Maple Ridge Burrards, a regular-season, Western Lacrosse Association rival of New Westminster.
His dad, Derek, was part of the Salmonbellies team that swept the Brampton Excelsiors to win the 1981 Mann Cup.
“He texted me this morning. I think he might have been more nervous than I was,” Curtis said after the game. “It’s pretty special to get to do it here this year.
“This is probably the greatest moment in my lacrosse career. I had a lot of fun tonight.”
New Westminster had a 2-0 series lead, but, in the end, Peterborough was more athletic and ran their offence with greater precision.
Their stars, too, came through at clutch times.
Dickson bagged three game winners against New Westminster. Adam Jones notched the other on Friday. When New Westminster went on a 4-1 run in the third period Friday to cut Peterborough’s lead to 12-10, Shawn Evans snuck a shot from in close past Salmonbellies goalie Alexis Buque at the 15:10 mark of the third to grab momentum back for good.
Dickson and Jones are both former 50-goal men in the National Lacrosse League. Evans is a twotime NLL most valuable player.
“They were dictating play, they were getting all the loose balls, they were doing everything right,” Dickson said of the Salmonbellies through the series’ first two games. “We had watch the film and figure out what we were doing wrong. We had to change a few things up and we were able to do that.”
Dickson played his final Junior A season in 2009 based out of Queen’s Park, after a trade brought him to New Westminster from Port Coquitlam. His first Senior A games as an underage call-up with were the Salmonbellies in 2007.
He had two goals and one assist in his Senior A debut against the Victoria Shamrocks, including a soaring, diving tally that’s become such a trademark that he’s been tagged as “Superman” in some lacrosse circles.
Then Salmonbellies assistant coach Steve Goodwin told reporters of Dickson afterward: “He still has two years of junior left, but he has Senior A hands. He’s an 18-yearold that played like a veteran.”
Goodwin is now bench boss of New Westminster.
Whether Goodwin, the Salmonbellies and the rest of the WLA will see Dickson on a more regular basis remains to be seen. There’s a school of thought out there that he would return to play for the Burrards after he won a Mann Cup with the Lakers. Dickson wasn’t giving out any hints on that after the game Friday, though.
“That’s a question for another day. I’m going to enjoy this now and I’ll weigh my options later on,” he said.
Dickson and the Lakers lost in the 2015 Mann Cup finale to the host Victoria Shamrocks. He didn’t play last summer due to injuries he picked up in the NLL with the Calgary Roughnecks.
Evans was named the Mike Kelly Memorial Medal winner as series most valuable player. It’s the second such honour for him. He also took it in 2010, when Peterborough beat New Westminster at home.
He had 30 points, including 11 goals. Jones had 29 points, highlighted by 12 goals, and Dickson supplied 27 points and 14 goals.
New Westminster’s Mitch Jones set a Mann Cup record for points in series, with 39. He had 12 goals. The previous mark of 37 was set by Josh Sanderson of Brampton in 2002 and then tied by Evans in 2010.