Skip to content

PoCo minor lacrosse would feel effect of Saints' move

Port Coquitlam’s minor lacrosse system will lose if the city’s Junior A team, the PoCo Saints, move to Maple Ridge.
PoCo Saints
MARIO BARTEL/THE TRI-CITY NEWS FILE PHOTO The PoCo Saints Junior A lacrosse team, seen here in action against the Bunaby Lakers, could be on the run to Maple Ridge if the team owner, Reg Thompson, gets his way.

Port Coquitlam’s minor lacrosse system will lose if the city’s Junior A team, the PoCo Saints, move to Maple Ridge.

Josh Wahl, the president of the PoCo Minor Lacrosse Association, says playing for the Saints’ Junior A team is a major goal for players at the Midget and Bantam competitive levels.

“A lot of the kids, when they get to Bantam and Midget age, they see how cool it would be to play for the Saints,” Wahl said. “They look up to that group. That’s their goal.”

But Saints’ longtime owner Reg Thompson says there aren’t enough of those players to make his team competitive with perennial powerhouses like the Coquitlam Adanacs and New Westminster Salmonbellies. That’s one of the reasons he wants to take the team he’s owned for 23 years across the Pitt River Bridge to Cam Neely Arena, where he believes more kids are playing lacrosse as the community grows.

Thompson said he’s also frustrated by the ongoing disruptions and uncertainty caused by the construction of the new PoCo Rec Centre, where his team is based. Construction on a new facility, that is going on around the old twin-pad arena, started in March and is expected to take until 2021.

Thompson, who was once the head of Port Coquitlam Minor Lacrosse, said he’s seen the number of kids playing the sport diminish since the halcyon days when “hundreds of kids” attended drop-in sessions at the Hyde Creek Community Centre to learn about the game.

“They all came to play, it was so much fun back then,” Thompson said. “Now it’s like pulling hen’s teeth. There’s just so many other things for people to do.”

But Wahl said enrolment in the local lacrosse association has been steady at about 450 kids for the past 10 years. Although he concedes the growth in female lacrosse is helping keep the numbers up.

“Like any association, there’s a dip in some age groups,” said Wahl, adding PoCo’s numbers are similar to communities like New Westminster and Langley.

He also pointed to recent provincial championships as evidence of his association’s strength

“Whenever you have provincial titles it brings recognition.”

Wahl said the Saints aren’t just a goal for players; the team also gives back to minor lacrosse as some of its players volunteer to coach younger kids.

“We would lose those kids who help come coach,” Wahl said.

Thompson said Junior A teams rely on a strong local youth program to build their rosters. While the league conducts an annual draft of players who live outside the catchment areas of current teams, most of a team’s players come from Midget programs in its community.

Karl Christiansen, the president of the BC Junior Lacrosse League, said it’s up to the teams to find the best players within its minor system.

“Recruitment is the responsibility of the clubs,” Christiansen said. “Everyone does it differently. The more organized a club is, and more success they have and volunteers they have, it can be easier to do.”