A bike ride up Blue Mountain Road changed Rick Mang’s life.
The young Coquitlam Adanacs’ goaltender was unwinding on his 10-speed in his shorts, in the warm fall sunshine. If he wre still in Ontario, he’d already be wearing a parka.
That’s when Mang decided his taste of lacrosse on the West Coast would become a full meal deal and he sublet his apartment back east.
Mang went on to become the most successful goalie in the Western Lacrosse Association. He will be among the 2017 class of eight inductees to the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in November.
Mang, now a resident of Port Coquitlam, played 12 seasons in the WLA, the first three with the Adanacs and the balance with the New Westminster Salmonbellies. He won the Mann Cup with the Bellies in 1991 and again during a brief return to Brampton in 1998. His 81.35% save percentage still ranks him the best amongst all WLA goalies who’ve played more than 100 games.
Mang said he was taken aback when he learned of his latest honour.
“I never saw it coming,” he said. “It’s been quite a week.”
Mang said he was “just a cocky, arrogant rookie from back east” when he landed with the Adanacs after leading his Peterborough Lansdown Maulers to the Minto Cup Junior A lacrosse championship in 1986 over the Esquimalt Legion who had the renowned Gait brothers, Gary and Paul, on its roster. But it was in New Westminster his career really blossomed.
“It took me playing in New West to shut me up,” said Mang. “There were a lot of men on that team, family men who just took care of business.”
Five of those men, Andy Ogilvie, Geordie Dean, Eric Cowieson, Ben Hieltjes and Todd Lorenz, preceded Mang into the Hall, which is located in New Westminster.
“Everybody wanted to go play in New West,” said Mang. “They knew it meant you might win a Mann Cup.”
Mang said his move west didn’t come without some adjustments. The game in Ontario was faster, players had softer hands to make and distribute passes, while western lacrosse relied more on tactics, positioning and aggression.
He also had the good fortune to play in two of the most incendiary lacrosse hotbeds in the country, Peterborough and New West, where the game mattered a lot to local fans and the media. That’s not so much the case anymore as it competes with higher-profile sports that can promise wealth and fame to the very few kids good enough to make it to the top.
“Back in the day, lacrosse was the only game in town,” said Mang. “There’s so much other stuff to do nowadays.”
Still, Mang’s passion for lacrosse hasn’t diminished. He’s coaching a Senior C team as well as his daughter’s junior team in Port Coquitlam. And he’s proudly grooming his four-year-old grandson, Jacob, to carry the family’s lacrosse heritage into the next generation of players.
“It’s always been about lacrosse,” said Mang.
The formal induction ceremony will take place Nov. 18 at the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame, located in the ANVIL Centre in New West. Other 2017 inductees include: Ken Colley (player); Pat Coyle (player); Cinton Magee (player); Don Craggs (veteran); Bob Cleverly (builder); Jim Cain (builder); Peterborough Maulers 1986-89 (team).
