LEC turns to lacrosse sniper Dickson
Curtis Dickson is one of lacrosse’s best salesmen and on Tuesday, he was pumping up the premise that a world championship in the Lower Mainland will help push the sport further into the midstream here.
Dickson, a Port Coquitlam product, is one of the game’s most prolific goal scorers. He’s also, arguably, its greatest scorer of great goals, with a high percentage of his tallies with both the summertime Maple Ridge Burrards and the wintertime Calgary Roughnecks being highlight-reel material.
The Langley Events Centre had him out Tuesday at a news conference to help draw early attention to the 2019 Federation of International Lacrosse world indoor lacrosse championships, which the venue is hosting next September.
LEC organizers are promising a 20-team event for this fifth incarnation of the worlds. Canada has won the previous four competitions, the last coming in 2015 in Syracuse, N.Y., when they beat the Iroquois Nationals 12-8 in the final behind a four-goal game from Dickson, before a crowd of 8,000.
“You look at the Olympics and the world juniors and the hype that surrounds any of those tournaments,” said Dickson, 30, who has represented Canada at the last two field lacrosse worlds as well, including last July when they fell to the Americans in the gold-medal game in Israel.
“This tournament can have that same kind of feel.
“The world championships that I’ve played in for lacrosse have been crazy. You get behind your country and you go nuts.”
The LEC, oddly enough, lost a lacrosse team this summer, with the Vancouver Stealth moving to Rogers Arena after the Vancouver Canucks bought the National Lacrosse League club in June.
The Canucks have rebranded the entity, taking on the Vancouver Warriors name and new colours; their home-opener is Dec. 8 against the Toronto Rock. That’s followed by a home-and-home with the Roughnecks, with Dickson and his Calgary mates visiting Dec. 21.
Part of the reason for the sale and the move is that the Stealth had trouble drawing crowds at the LEC and part of that came down to struggles in the standings. The Stealth were 25-65 in the five seasons in Langley, including a 2-16 effort last season. Their announced attendance average for nine home dates last season was 3,507. The NLL averaged 9,411.
The league has had success piggybacking with NHL clubs. The Roughnecks, for instance, were bought in 2011 by the Calgary Flames. They averaged 11,847 last year.
It will be interesting to see what the Canucks can do for lacrosse’s image and profile in the Lower Mainland, and, in turn, what that can do for the worlds at the LEC next fall.
“The NHL ownership is the way the league is leaning right now … the financial backing, the extra marketing, being able to play out of their arena,” Dickson said of the NLL. “It’s an exciting opportunity for them (the Warriors).”
Canada and the Iroquois Nationals have played in the four previous world finals. The Americans have won the four bronze medals. All three teams are confirmed for next September.
Other teams announced Tuesday as participating were: Australia, Austria, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, England, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Serbia, Scotland, Slovakia, Sweden and Switzerland.
The 2015 tournament featured 13 teams. The inaugural tourney in 2003, which was hosted by four Ontario cities, had just six teams.
“It’s pretty cool to look at how far the game has come in the last 10 or 15 years,” said Dickson. “One of these days, it will be like hockey, where you have the Finlands and the Swedens and everyone else competing for a gold medal. That’s the main goal, getting the tournament to that point.”
The tournament is slated for Sept. 19-28, 2019.