Mann Cup lacrosse final matches Six Nations pedigree, Burrards' brawn, and pickles

HAGERSVILLE, Ont. - The Six Nations Chiefs had 17 players from the winter-spring pro National Lacrosse League in their lineup when they defeated Peterborough in the seventh and deciding game of Ontario’s Major Series Lacrosse championship series on Sept. 3, while the Maple Ridge Burrards had just five NLL players in eliminating Victoria in Game 6 of British Columbia’s Western Lacrosse Association final Sept. 2, and it is this disparity that has lacrosse fans favouring the Chiefs to win the senior amateur lacrosse championship of Canada.

Chiefs head coach Rich Kilgour won’t buy it. “There is no overwhelming favourite in the Mann Cup,” he says. “They won their league, we won our league, and it doesn’t matter how many NLL guys you have.”

His proof: Victoria had fewer NLL players than Peterborough in the 2015 series and the Shamrocks prevailed over the Lakers.

But Burrards head coach Rob Williams doesn’t mind being an underdog.

“We have not for one moment this year not been an underdog,” says Williams. “We have an up-and-coming team so we have a bunch of guys who haven’t played in the NLL yet but who will play in the NLL so the (17 to 5) numbers are irrelevant as far as I’m concerned.”

The annual best-of-seven series alternates between Ontario and British Columbia, which are the only two provinces with top-calibre senior leagues, and will begin at 8 p.m. ET on Friday at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena. The winner gets one of the most coveted trophies in Canadian sport. It has been up for grabs since 1910 when it was donated by railway builder Donald Mann. The cup on top of the wood base is low-karat gold. When it was last appraised, in 1980, the trophy was valued at $60,000 ($177,000 in 2016 dollars).

LONG-AWAITED RETURN

While the Chiefs won the Mann Cup in 2013 and in 2014, the Burrards are in their first national final since 1990, and they last won the Mann Cup way back in 1977 when they called Vancouver home.

“We’ve been building towards something for the last 10 years and we’re finally here,” says Williams.

This Burrards roster can be intimidating.

“We’re a big, physical team,” says Williams. “(The Chiefs) have a lot of size, too, with a lot of big guys on their back end who like to play hard. I think it’s going to be an epic battle.”

Consider this: no WLA champion has won the Mann Cup in the east since New Westminster did it in 1986, and Victoria’s triumph at home last September was only the WLA’s second Mann Cup title in 10 years.

WHY ARE THESE GUYS DOING THIS?

Many MSL and WLA players get little more than gas money, while NLL salaries can go up to nearly $35,000. So why risk injury playing summers and endanger NLL pay?

“It’s for the love of the game,” says Kilgour. “I always tell these guys: ‘You’re lucky. You get to play a boys’ game as men.’ You make a couple of bucks and maybe it isn’t enough but you get to keep playing at a high level. That’s a reward in itself. Most sports, when they started, that’s what it was all about.”

Summer lacrosse is still like that.

“(NLL teams) can’t stop them,” says Kilgour, an assistant coach with the NLL’s Buffalo Bandits. “If they paid millions of dollars, yes, I could see them saying, ‘You’re not doing that.’ But no one in the winter makes enough to make that their only job. It’s not enough to pay all the bills. I’m sure some of the (NLL) teams get mad when their guys get hurt in the summer but the summer leagues are what made the NLL so pay them more money or so sad, too bad. If you paid them more money, I’m sure there would be more guys pulling the plug on the summer.”

Ben McIntosh, who as a member of the Saskatchewan Rush won a second straight NLL title last June, is the Burrards’ top scorer.

“It’s a good way to stay in shape, a good way to keep the stick in your hands,” McIntosh says of summer ball. “Also, there is some loyalty. You want to play with friends you grew up with. Everyone who plays lacrosse loves the game. Nobody is playing it to get rich.”

What about injuries that might cost you NLL games?

“It’s a risk . . . but I feel you can’t be worried about being injured,” says McIntosh. “You just gotta live your life. Playing lacrosse is what we love so we’re going to keep playing.”

DILLON WARD VS. FRANKIE SCIGLIANO

The Chiefs’ Ward and the Burrards’ Scigliano were MVPs in their leagues’ championship series so this goaltending matchup is one lacrosse fans are eager to watch.

“For the last four games against Peterborough, he was just lights-out,” Kilgour says of Ward. “Scigliano . . . I’m sure he wants to use this as his launching pad to prove he’s an NLL starter. He’s a big guy. He takes up a lot of the net. He’s been playing great for them. It’s going to be a great matchup.”

“Frankie is a huge cog in our wheel,” says Williams.

“It’s pretty hard to score these days given how big the goaltenders are and how small the nets are,” says Harris.

PICKLES

Six Nations trainer Dave Sowden makes his own pickles. A new batch was ready after the Chiefs went down 0-3 to Peterborough in the MSL final and he showed up for Game 4 with a five-gallon jug of pickles for the players. They won so Sowden kept taking pickles to the games. The team won four straight to win the Ontario title.

“It was one of those weird things,” says Kilgour. “Who knows what a rallying point will be?”

Will Sowden show up with pickles Friday? “He better,” says Kilgour. “They are outstanding pickles. They are above-average pickles. All the guys love ‘em. It seemed to turn that whole series around.”

For Thursday’s Mann Cup news conference, go here.