Lakers and Burrards a fast and physical matchup
Maple Ridge has a ‘hard-working, tough defence,’ head coach Rob Williams says
The Maple Ridge Burrards are a gritty team built on its defence and goaltending.
The Burrards won the Western Lacrosse Association final against the Victoria Shamrocks without scoring more than nine goals in any of the five games. That gives an indication of how good the back-end is that will face the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers for the Mann Cup. The Canadian Senior A lacrosse championship starts at 8 p.m. Friday at the Memorial Centre. Game 2 is at 7 p.m. Saturday followed by Game 3 on Monday at 8 p.m.
“We have a close-knit family, a tight group of guys,” said Burrards head coach Rob Williams during a press conference Thursday afternoon at the Best Western Otonabee Inn.
“We have a highly skilled frontend with an aggressive, hardworking, tough defence. From top to bottom we’re a really good team through and through.”
Offensively, the Burrards are led by the dynamic duo of former Laker Curtis Dickson and Ben McIntosh. They combined for 48 of the Burrards 85 playoff goals. Dickson led the way with 28 goals and 42 points in nine games. McIntosh had 20 goals and 41 points. They shared the playoff MVP honours with goalie Frank Scigliano who played all but 4:38 of the team’s playoff minutes.
“They’re a real good group,” said Lakers head coach Mike Hasen.
“They’re fast. They’re young. They have a lot of good pieces. Their coaching is top notch. They’ve got one of the most dynamic players on the floor in Curtis but they have a good group around him. It’s not just based on him. It’s going to be fast and physical. Kind of what we’re used to playing around here anyway.”
When Williams became head coach four years ago, after eight as an assistant, he took over a team that had struggled in the lower half of the standings for some time. Since then, they’ve won two WLA titles losing in their only other Mann Cup appearance to the Six Nations Chiefs in 2016. It was a valuable learning experience for players and coaches alike, Williams said.
“We learned to keep our emotions in check and roll with the punches a little more and not let little things bother us,” he said.
Williams and his staff have spent the past week getting familiar with the Lakers.
“We’re very similar teams,” Williams said.
“They have a very talented offence with Holden Cattoni, Shawn Evans, Cory Vitarelli, who I am a big fan of, the way he grinds and plays and finds open areas. They have a great group on offence and a big, hard defence that works hard very similar to us. I find a lot of similarities. Their work ethic is very similar to our own.”
Hasen expects a bit of feelingout in Game 1.
“You can only see so much on film,” Hasen said.
“Once you get on the floor and start hitting guys that will tell the tale. The first period will be a feeling out process. Hopefully, we can feed off the crowd and do what we do. That has to be our focus.”
NOTES: The Mann Cup rules differ slightly from the MSL. The biggest difference is the 30-second shot clock will not run when teams are killing penalties. The MSL introduced the shot clock during penalty kills this season but the WLA did not…. Singlegame tickets go on sale at the box office Friday morning or online at www.memorialcentre.ca.