President Cup News

Photo Credit Pioneers

It was like Dorthy and the Yellow Brick Road wanting to pull off magic in winning the 2024 Presidents Cup played on their home floor at the Ladner |Leisure Centre.

The event dates back to 1964 that saw the first championship presented in 1965 to the Fergus Thistles who defeated the Cornwall Wildcats.

The following year (1966) the Championship was played in Nanaimo with them pulling out the win over the same Fergus Thistles.

Dating back to 1966 it does seem ironic that this is only the third time in franchise history and the first time in 27 years, the national senior B lacrosse championships will take place at the Ladner Leisure Centre.

The tournament is a week long and pulls together winning champions from various leagues across Canada as far away as Ontario that had them playing each other in a round-robin format.

The weeklong has two games on the Friday with the winners advancing to the championship game Saturday night for both the Bronze and Gold medal games. 

Entering the weeklong event sees the Pioneers enter as winning the previous two years coming in as the two-time defending champion pulling off  a win in Oakville last year.

The championship was kicked off as the Allegany Arrows pulled out a 7-6 win in the opening game over the Edmonton Miners with Chase Martin stopping 48 of 54 shots he faced. 

The visiting Victoria Shamrocks and second seed in the West Coast Senior Lacrosse League came up short, dropping a 13-7 margin  to the Six Nations Rivermen 

The Rivermen were led by Greg Elijah-Brown who notched a pair of goals plus an impressive 5 assists while Drew Hutchinson turned aside 37 of 44 shots he faced.

Host team Ladner Pioneers faced off against the Standing Buffalo Fighting Sioux who pulled out a 16-8 victory. 

Tyler Pace notched 1 goal and 7 assists, while Coquitlam’s Christian Del Bianco stopped 38 of 44 shots he faced for the Pioneers.

The last game Sunday saw the Arrows defeat the Snake Island Muskies by a narrow score of 7-6 that saw Arrows’ Chris Attwood hammered home 3 goals and 2 assists while Hunyahdengowah Abrams stopped 61 of 67 shots he faced.

The Edmonton Miners [RMLL] (1-1) squared off against the Standing Buffalo Fighting Sioux [PGLL] (0-2) and came away with a 15-1 win. 

The Miners’ Brett McIntyre led all scoring with 5 goals and 1 assist, and Matt Hiebert stopped 33 of 34 shots in net.

The Snake Island Muskies [TNSLL] (1-1) faced the Victoria Shamrocks [WCSLA] (0-2) and defeated the BC reps 11-9. 

The Muskies’ Vaughn Harris had 6 goals and 1 assist to lead the way, with Nick Damude stopping 43 of 52 shots.

The Allegany Arrows (3-0) remained perfect after edging the Six Nations Rivermen [OSL] (1-1) 12-11. 

Arrows Chase Fraser (3G, 4A) led their scoring while Chase Martin turned aside 48 of 59 shots.

The Fighting Sioux (1-2) overcame a 2 goal deficit midway through the 3rd period to squeak by the Shamrocks (0-3) 11-10. Standing Buffalo’s Curtis Dickson (3G, 4A) led scoring and goalie Frank Scigliano stopped 46 of 56 shots.

The last game of the day saw the defending National Champions and host Ladner Pioneers (1-1) lose their first game in the 2024 campaign to the Miners (2-1) by a score of 6-3. 

Cam MacLeod was solid in net for the Miners, stopping 43 of 46 shots, while Brett McIntyre (1G, 3A) and Dean Fairall (2G, 2A) led the attack.

Day 3 saw Snake Island Muskies (2-1) up-end Six Nations Rivermen (1-2) doubling up 8-4 after sixty minutes of play.

Muskies Chris Boushy (5G, 1A) was the top scorer that saw Nick Damude stop 37 for Snake Island.

The Allegany Arrows [CALL] (4-0) overpowered the Standing Buffalo Fighting Sioux((1-3) by a score of 20-9. 

The Arrows’ Chris Cloutier finished with 4 goals and 3 assists that saw Craig Seneca turn aside 37 of 46 shots he faced.

The Edmonton Miners (3-1) defeated the visiting Victoria Shamrocks (0-3) , outscoring them by a 12-9 margin. 

The Miners’ Dean Fairall of the Miners finished with 3 goals and 5 assists while Matt Hiebert stopped 28 of the37 he faced.

Hometown favorites Pioneers (2-1) defeated the Rivermen (1-3) by the score of 12-7 margin that saw Pioneers Mitch Jones (5G, 3A) and Tyler Pace (1G, 7A) were the top scorers for the Pioneers while Coquitlam’s Christian Del Bianco stopped 28 of the 35 shots he faced.