Burrards Fall Short

As impressive as the Burrards played in capturing the WLA Title in the final series against the Shamrocks, they simply were no match for the Six Nations Chiefs.

The Burrards were eliminated from the Mann Cup Championship giving the Championship win to Six Nations in 5 games with a convincing 14-6 win.

The best of seven series saw Six Nations pull off a convincing Mann Cup Championship with dominating scores, simply outplaying the Burrards.

This was the third Mann Cup in the past four years, so it’s clear that they are a power-house team.

The Chiefs won the first game 15-8, but the Burrards bounced back and evened the series by a 13-9 score in game two.

The Chiefs then came out on top in two close 9-7 games – one in overtime and the other effectively a one-goal game with an empty netter.

Burrards GM Daren Fridge told the media “I know they’re down now. It’ll be a while before they can feel positive about what we accomplished this year.”

He continued “Games three and four could have gone either way adding and if they were fortunate to pull the series to a 2-2 draw it could have made a big difference to his team’s confidence, and their approach the rest of the way.”

Some simply named the series “Old Guard vs New Kids on the Block, but regardless Daren is pleased with how the franchise has grown over the past 40 year, considering the Vancouver Burrards won the Mann Cup in 1977 when they played out of the Kerrisdale Arena.

Fridge was very complimentary of the Chiefs, mentioning that “the Chiefs roster is loaded with National Lacrosse League (NLL) veteran players as well as some former MVPs and scoring champs.”

Dhane Smith won the scoring title in the NLL this year, and their roster included three other players who were in the top 10. Aside from those, they were led in playoff scoring by Dan Dawson’s 30 points.

Burrards Ben McIntosh led the Burrards with 11 goals and 21 points in the Mann Cup this season, whild Dan Taylor had 18 points pulling off three (3) goals and 15 helpers.

It’s not a kept secret that the Burrards play “on the edge” and are known as the “Burrard Street Bullies” throughout the league and quite possibly that reputation followed them east for the Mann Cup this year.

The team did manage to out-grow the title following the threat from the WLA earlier in the season with a possible eviction from the WLA in a game against Burnaby Lakers.

When all is said and done, the Burrards went east and represented the WLA as best they could, but simply were unable to take the Mann Cup back to BC.

Season of mystery and success for the Burrards, but wait till next season for more exciting WLA action.