Dan Mattinson, a Willingdon Heights product, was coaching soccer for Norburn Athletic Club when legendary lacrosse builder Jack Crosby (inducted into the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame’s first class in 2001), lured him to the lacrosse box. It didn’t take long before Mattinson was hooked. He loved the speed and physicality of the sport.
The game inspired Mattinson to devour not only all he could learn about lacrosse, but also about coaching. He eagerly ate up any information available on the art and science of the craft earning several levels of national coaching certification. He learned from many innovators including Simon Fraser University men’s basketball coach Jon Kootnekoff, Soviet hockey czar Anatoli Tarasov, Canadian sports fitness guru Lloyd Percival and track and field commentating icon Geoffrey Gowan.
It paid off initially with success for a midget team he coached and for B.C.’s team at the 1973 Canada Summer Games held in Burnaby and New Westminster. His biggest successes, though, came in leading Burnaby Cablevision to six Minto Cups, including winning three years in a row — 1977, 1978 and 1979 — unprecedented for western Canadian teams. In 12 regular seasons (1974-1985) being the Burnaby bench boss Mattinson’s squads racked up 223 wins and just 75 losses and three ties.
