John Burr wants to pack the Ladner Leisure Centre with the loudest lacrosse fans from right here in Delta.
Burr, the president of the Ladner Pioneers is hoping a packed house will help aid the Pioneers in their quest for a third straight President’s Cup national lacrosse championship.
“It’s exciting to be in this position…teams want to knock us down,” said Burr. “I’m trying to make this more of a community-based tournament. We have local food trucks coming in, we have a youth ambassador program running so our young lacrosse players are involved in the opening ceremonies, game warm-ups.
“We have secured a beer garden with the Pioneers Senior ‘C’ team running it with speciality beers and lots of local businesses have stepped up to support the tournament, the players and all the fans that will be coming out.”
The Pioneers, in their 43rd season, last hosted the President’s Cup in 1985 and 1997.
Burr remembers those hosting years fondly when there was a packed arena.
“I want to sell out the Leisure Centre. We have 1,200 seats for the tournament, and I want this to be a first-class experience for everyone,” he said. “We want to have that electricity in the building. We want it loud and for the players to feel that excitement. When we hosted in 1985, I was a player. I remember the sellout crowds, the drums were going, the fans were loud, the games were awesome. We went into overtime a few games and it was just super energized and I want to see that again.”
The Pioneers had an undefeated regular season won their first playoff series over the North Shore Indians and then completed a two-game sweep of the Victoria Shamrocks for the playoff title and provincial championship on Sunday night in Ladner with a 13-2 win.
There have been few challenges for Ladner so far this season, but Burr knows that is about change come Aug. 25.
“The team is cautiously optimistic,” he said. “Last year we went 16-0 in the regular season as well. This year I feel we have a more fluent offence. Our defence is probably not as strong, but I always worry about the President’s Cup because the calbre is so high and the games are so intense. There is a lot of strategy balancing out the line-up when you are possibly playing eight games in that week. It’s a tough grind. It’s the hardest tournament to win in lacrosse.”
The President’s Cup runs from Aug. 25 to 31.
The Pioneers will represent the hosts for the tournament while the Shamrocks will represent B.C. Five other teams are still in their playoffs to determine who will come to Ladner.
The tournament is a six-game round robin with the top four teams making the semifinals.
Ladner’s first game is Sunday (Aug. 25) at 4:30 p.m. against the Saskatchewan winner followed by the opening ceremonies at 6:30 p.m.
Ladner will play the Alberta winner at 8 p.m. on Monday, Ontario’s winner at 8 p.m. Tuesday, the Can-Am winner on Wednesday at 11 a.m. and the Shamrocks at 8 p.m. and wrap up the round robin on Thursday at 8 p.m. against the TNSLL winner.
The first semifinal (one vs four) is Friday at 4:30 p.m. with the second semifinal (two vs three) at 7:30 p.m.
The bronze medal game is 3 p.m. Saturday with the gold medal final at 6 p.m.
Tournament passes are available as well as tickets at the door for all game days.
See: https://presidentscup.lacrosse.ca/ for more information, link to buy tickets and the full game schedule.
