West Central Lacrosse League

[edit] Playoffs

2003 SEASON

SEMI-FINALS: Port Moody Express defeated Vancouver Vipers 18-6; Port Coquitlam Hitmen defeated Abbotsford Attack 13-12

CONSOLATION GAME: Vancouver Vipers defeated Abbotsford Attack 7-4

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Port Coquitlam Hitmen defeated Port Moody Express 12-10 (OT)

2004 SEASON

SEMI-FINALS: Port Moody Express defeated Vancouver Vipers 13-6; Port Coquitlam Hitmen defeated Abbotsford Attack 8-5

CONSOLATION GAME: Abbotsford Attack defeated Vancouver Vipers 11-7

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Port Moody Express defeated Port Coquitlam Hitmen 9-8 (OT)

2005 SEASON

SEMI-FINALS: Port Coquitlam Hitmen defeated North Shore Indians 11-10; PoCoMo Express defeated Vancouver Vipers 9-7

CONSOLATION GAME: North Shore Indians defeated Vancouver Vipers 17-5

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Port Coquitlam Hitmen defeated PoCoMo Express 10-8

2006 SEASON

SEMI-FINALS: Port Moody Express defeated Abbotsford Attack 10-5; North Shore Indians defeated Vancouver Burrards 9-5

CONSOLATION GAME: Abbotsford Attack defeated Vancouver Burrards 8-7

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Port Moody Express defeated North Shore Indians 11-3

2007 SEASON

SEMI-FINALS: Port Moody Express defeated Abbotsford Attack 8-4; Port Coquitlam Hitmen defeated North Shore Indians 7-2

CONSOLATION GAME: Abbotsford Attack defeated North Shore Indians 9-8

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME: Port Moody Express defeated Port Coquitlam Hitmen 15-14

[edit] Playoff Champions

[edit] League History

The West Central League started play in 2003 with four teams: the Abbotsford Attack, Port Coquitlam Hitmen, Port Moody Express, and Vancouver Vipers.

The Port Coquitlam Hitmen were founded by Scott Parsons. Dave Wisniewski was originally going to be involved with the Port Coquitlam entry along with Parsons but then decided he wanted to start his own team - which is how Port Moody was then established. The original proposed name for the team was the Beast of Port Moody, but this was soon dropped in favour of the Port Moody Express. The Abbotsford Attack were started by Cam Janzen and Tom Potter as they wanted to have a box team for all the Abbotsford field players to keep their skills up over the off-season. Terry Kirstiuk was responsible for founding the Vancouver Vipers (named after the former Vancouver Senior B team from the late 1990s), a squad which struggled through its first season with short-benches and an inexperienced roster.

Port Moody Express and Port Coquitlam Hitmen were the dominant teams during the inaugural season, finishing 1st and 2nd respectively in the regular season standings and both met in the playoff finals with Port Coquitlam defeating Port Moody 12-10 in overtime to win the Gale Lloyd Trophy - symbolic of the league's playoff championship. In the league's consolation bronze game, the Vancouver Vipers, who went winless during the regular season, pulled off a 7-4 upset to defeat the Abbotsford Attack.

The 2004 regular season basically saw a repeat finish of the previous year, although Port Coquitlam finished tied for points with Abbotsford. Vancouver Vipers picked up its first and only win of the regular season at the expense of Port Coquitlam. Port Moody and Port Coquitlam met again in the playoff championship - with the game going into overtime but this time Port Moody walking away with the Gale Lloyd trophy in an exciting 9-8 victory. Abbotsford defeated Vancouver 11-7 in the re-match for the bronze medal game.

One major change which occurred prior to the 2004 campaign was the adoption of one central arena location in Port Coquitlam for all games regardless which teams were playing. In the inaugural season, a different team would host games each weekend at their own home arena. Players complained about the travel (especially back-to-back Saturday-Sunday games played in Abbotsford and Vancouver-Kerrisdale) and confusion over scheduling locations, so the decision was made to centralize everything out of Port Coquitlam Arena. Since then, just over 80% of all league games have been played at Port Coquitlam Arena - with the remainder re-scheduled elsewhere when not available.

On February 23, 2005 the North Shore Indians from North Vancouver were approved and joined as the league's first expansion team. Port Coquitlam surged to the top of the standings while PoCoMo Express (as Port Moody were officially known that year) sunk into second place. Close behind them were the Vancouver Vipers while the North Shore Indians settled into fourth place and the Abbotsford Attack were hampered by a slow-start to finish out of the post-season. Port Coquitlam and Port Moody met yet again in the playoff finals - this time Port Coquitlam taking the trophy home with a 10-8 win.

In October 2005 during the off-season, Vancouver's executive decided to rename the team the Burrards to keep in line with all other Vancouver box lacrosse teams from minor up through to senior level.

In 2006, the league's fourth campaign, Port Moody dropped the unpopular PoCoMo moniker and proceeded to shellshock the league with its 10-0 start but wrapped up the season with 1 loss and 1 forfeiture to the North Shore Indians, who improved by 4 wins to easily secure second place. As for the three other teams, the standings finish came down to the wire when the Abbotsford Attack defeated the third-place Vancouver Burrards in overtime to knock Port Coquitlam out of the post-season. In the playoffs, Port Moody dispatched Abbotsford 10-5 in the semi-final and then walked away with the championship in an easy 11-3 win versus North Shore, while Abbotsford took the bronze against Vancouver.

Despite the overwhelming dominance of Port Moody (who went on to win the Alcan Cup Invitational Senior C Championship held in Prince George and then capped it up the following week with winning British Columbia Senior C provincial championships in Richmond and New Westminster), the league saw the closest parity and balanced play between teams since the league started.

Based on their participation in 2006 Provincials, the early expectations going into the 2007 season were Port Moody and North Shore would dominate above the rest of the league – however that really didn’t turn out to be the case as the season unfolded.

The first half of the season was fairly close, as on any given day depending on who showed up any team could beat another. As the season progressed however, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, and North Shore were able to fortify themselves prior to the roster deadline with signing cuts to boost their fortunes in the standings as Abbotsford and Vancouver slid downwards from remaining with pretty much the same intact rosters for the entire season.

Port Moody continued to chalk up wins in the standings but games involving the Express were much closer than in any previous season. By the time Port Moody had sorted out its goaltending situation and stopped relying on bringing in different junior call-ups each week, they finished the season with a league-leading 9-3 record but had nowhere near the dominant team on the floor as their 2006 squad.

Likewise with North Shore which surprisingly struggled with short-benches most games until the start of July. This hampered the Indians in the standings as they were only able to gain two wins (one of them in overtime) at Vancouver’s expense and a couple of single points from a tie and overtime loss versus Port Coquitlam. The only real bright spot at this point was their solid goaltending - a position which had been often questionable in previous years. But by the time July rolled around, North Shore had solidified itself on the bench with regular junior call-ups meshed alongside their older experienced players and they went on to win 3 of their 4 remaining games, including a close win against Port Moody. Even in those games the Indians showed up with depleted line-ups, the squads they fielded were still dangerous as the Indians gained a reputation for playing a tenacious third-period game which helped them comeback from several earlier setbacks on the scoreboard.

During the opening weeks of play, it appeared that Abbotsford was the team which had done the most roster homework in the off-season by quietly recruiting new goaltending and experienced talent from former Ladner players. The Attack reversed its usual trend of a slow start and were playing .700 lacrosse after 5 games but then inexplicably went on a 6-game losing skid – including two losses within two weeks to a depleted 10-man Vancouver Burrard squad. Abbotsford then won its final game of the season to secure fourth place and the final post-season berth.

Port Coquitlam went into the season as a major unknown since the team confirmed its commitment to the league only two weeks prior to the start of the season. However whatever setback the Hitmen may have had from late planning soon quickly disappeared as they were able to recruit a full team and played fairly consistent lacrosse throughout the season. They too reinforced their roster just prior to the July 1 roster deadline, which helped them take 4 of their last 5 games in the regular season and gain a firm lock on second place.

Vancouver’s season started with a lot of promise - on paper - but quickly saw their effort plagued with short-benches and low player commitment. The only real highpoints during the campaign occurred when they secured two victories against Abbotsford with about half as many players. By the time the end of the season rolled around, the Burrards were out of the post-season and instead looking towards the upcoming Alcan Cup tournament in Prince George for some redemption.

In the playoffs, Abbotsford Attack took a 2-1 lead in their semi-final match-up with the Port Moody Express with both teams tied 4-4 going into the final period before the Express raced ahead with 4 goals to take the game 8-4. In the other semi-final match-up, Port Coquitlam maintained a steady lead throughout to eliminate the North Shore Indians 7-2.

In the bronze medal game played the following day, the Abbotsford Attack held a 7-4 lead after forty minutes but then the Indians mounted yet another of their third-period comebacks. Abbotsford were able to hang on for a 9-8 victory over the North Shore Indians.

The championship game featured the fourth time the Port Moody Express and Port Coquitlam Hitmen had met in the finals - and once again it was an interesting and exciting game. Port Coquitlam held narrow 1-goal leads after each of the first two period, but Port Moody were then able to outscore the Hitmen 6-4 in the third-period to win the championship 15-14.

[edit] League Awards (2003)

The 2003 season has been the only year the league has named any player awards.

2003 ALL-STAR TEAM

GOAL: Steve Sabyan (Port Moody); DEFENSE: Tim McBride (Abbostford); Steve Rickerby (Port Coquitlam); RUNNER: Steve Dunn (Abbotsford); Chris Roberts (Port Moody); Rich Gareau (Port Coquitlam)

2003 PLAYER AWARDS

TOP SCORER: Scott Parsons (Port Coquitlam); TOP DEFENCEMEN: Steve Rickerby (Port Coquitlam); MOST SPORTSMANLIKE: Tom Stevens (Port Coquitlam); MOST INSPIRATIONAL: Jim Ainsley (Vancouver)

[edit] Team Records

[edit] See also

• Lacrosse
• Box lacrosse

[edit] External links

• West Central League's senior C lacrosse forum
• current league statistics
• 2003-2007 player career statistics and league records