For sale: The best Junior 'A' lacrosse team in Canada.
Fresh off their victory last summer as hosts of the Minto Cup national tournament, co-owners Ken Wood and Rocky Zimmerman are offering their Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs to the highest bidder -- preferably, they insist, to one who will keep the team in the city and continue to play out of their home location since 1965, the Sports Centre.
Wood and Zimmerman contend they are being forced to opt out primarily as a result of a push by the Coquitlam Minor Lacrosse Association executive to move Jr. A's evening practice time to free up more prime hours for CMLA teams. The pair also cites a lack of support from the city of Coquitlam.
Coquitlam Sr. Adanacs, who alternate mid-week floor time with the Jr. Adanacs, were also feeling the practice-time pinch and held an emergency executive board meeting Monday night to discuss the issue. When contacted Tuesday morning, Sr. Adanacs general manager Les Wingrove reserved comment, other than to say he was hopeful to meet "within the next couple days" with city officials to try to resolve the issue before his team makes a firm decision on what it will do. Wingrove said time is of the essence with the Sr. A's presence expected at next Tuesday's Western Lacrosse Association junior draft in Burnaby.
Currently, it's the Jr. Adanacs who are most irate.
"We're not bluffing about selling but we're tired and worn out," Wood told The Tri-City News. "We've received absolute silence from the city and literally no support."
Jr. A's brass claims the CMLA is enforcing a clause in the city's facility allocation policy whose wording permits the minor faction to bump the Sr. and Jr. A's traditional floor practice times -- the two squads alternate 7:30 and 9 p.m. sessions Mondays and Thursdays -- in order to better suit its own body of 735 players, including 130 females. Doing so would be a direct deterrent to the Jr. and Sr. A's adult-aged players, many of whom juggle job, travel and/or family demands in order to play, the two teams contend.
"We've had no problems over the years [until now] that I've been operating the club," Zimmerman, Jr. A's long-time governor, said in the release. "I never thought I would see the day when things would come to this. Everyone is hiding behind this floor allocation policy. Well, the policy is flawed. It was developed so that adult beer league hockey did not come along and pay more and... bump minor hockey. It did not, and does not, take into consideration historic lacrosse teams."
CMLA vice-president Garrett Ungaro said his group simply asked that the Jr. A's to surrender their Thursday 7:30 p.m. practice slot in exchange for a choice of various others, only to hear flat-out no in three separate head-to-head meetings. Ungaro believes his group has been more than reasonable, especially given its season generally runs from mid-April through June, leaving all of July and August for the Jr. and Sr. Adanacs.
"We're being painted as the bad guys but we've put a ton of options on the table and they've arbitrarily dismissed all of them," Ungaro said.
The reason the CMLA is suddenly requesting that specific time, Ungaro said, is largely based on a new B.C. Lacrosse Association directive that stipulates school-aged children not play too late during the week. Also, Ungaro said the addition of an Adanacs over-21 senior women's squad, which formerly played out of Planet Ice, to the Poirier Street twin-floor facility has eaten up a coveted Sunday 7:30 p.m. slot.
"Before, we've had one of our Bantam teams (players aged 13-14) play, say, Chilliwack starting at 9 p.m.," Ungaro said. "By the time's the game's over and the kids are ready to leave, it's 10:30 or 11 p.m., then you have to drive. By the time they get home, it's far too late on a school night."
As far as the city is concerned, it's an issue the two main combatants -- the Jr.'s and the CMLA -- must work to resolve, said Mayor Richard Stewart.
"Our hope is that the two sides would be able to reach a consensus and work things out for the entire lacrosse community," said Stewart, adding that council continues to "unanimously support" the city's facility allocation policy. "I would urge them to keep talking and try to resolve this for the kid's sake, first and foremost. The city has a tremendous stake in all of our athletic teams and... the little children are certainly no less important than the adults."
Coquitlam councillor Doug Macdonell, who also serves as the city's chair of Recreation, Sports and Culture and, like Stewart, fully endorses the floor allocation policy, said: "It would be a shame if it can't be resolved. The Adanacs are part of Coquitlam's culture and Coquitlam is a hot-bed for lacrosse. I know if we lose our Senior or Junior team, it would be a big hit on the kids."
