The numbers from the Burnaby Jr. Lakers dozen-year dynasty between 1996 and 2007 are staggering. During their reign of 12 seasons, the Lakers won the Minto Cup, Canada’s national junior lacrosse championship, in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2005. (The 1998 team has already been inducted into the Hall but the Hall has changed its criteria from requiring teams to be from a single season to allow for the induction of teams over multiple consecutive seasons.) During the dynasty, the Lakers went to the Minto Cup all 12 years. In addition to their five titles the Jr. Lakers were runners-up six times and came third once (2006).

Burnaby finished first in the BCJALL regular-season standings in 10 of the 12 seasons and were second the other two. Their record was 259-26-1, which is a winning percentage of 90.9%. The Lakers went undefeated in the 1998, 1999 and 2006 seasons. They suffered one loss twice, just two losses three times and three losses a trio of times. During the Lakers’ dynastic dozen they scored 1,685 more goals than their opposition, an average difference of 140.4 more goals per season.

The mastermind behind the dynasty was the late Jack Crosby, a lacrosse legend who was inducted into the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame’s first class in 2001. Crosby recruited outstanding coaches including Burnaby Hall of Fame honoured members Dave Lough (2008) and Paul Dal Monte (2013), and current Vancouver Warriors coach Curt Malawsky while attracting or drafting many elite players. Although throughout the dozen seasons there was turnover in coaches, players and staff, the one constant was the program’s commitment to excellence in its culture which became the dynasty’s foundation.

The synergy of a group of girls getting to know each other in 2006 evolved into a national soccer championship two years later.

Cliff Avenue United, a storied minor soccer program in North Burnaby, didn’t have a team in the under-12 category so the call was made to prospective players to start a team. They gathered together for the first time in a meeting room at Burnaby 8-Rinks. The first order of business was choosing a name and since they’d come from many different places for one common purpose they decided Synergy perfectly described what they would have to have to become champions.

To begin with they had many wins, but they also had some losses learning a lot of lessons along the way that would pay off in the future.

Boy did they ever. Their second season together was something to behold. Synergy simply ran roughshod over all comers from coast to coast in going unbeaten in the 32 games they played that season.

In 19 games on the local soccer scene the only blemish on their record was one draw. They breezed through the Coastal Cup A Championships winning all four of their games and another four at the Provincial Cup Championship.

That enabled the Synergy, coached by Mark Pennington and Tony Drescher, to advance to the Canadian U14 youth championships in Prince Edward Island Oct. 5-13, 2008. In their three round-robin games, Cliff Avenue outscored its opposition 16-0 before edging Ontario 3-2 in a semifinal and Quebec 3-1 in the final.

“In our national championship winning season, our biggest challenge was probably the fact that we were a relatively newly formed team with many of the players playing their first season together,” Pennington tells the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame.

“I believe that there were a few things that made this team special, but if I was to highlight one thing in particular it would be the team’s close bond and desire to fight for each other. I think our team name of ‘Synergy’ was very fitting because I believe that we were definitely stronger than the sum of all our individual parts.”

Pennington credits a game earlier in the season and a rivalry with another team as being instrumental in Synergy’s growth and success.

“We played a strong Surrey United team in the middle of the season, and we found ourselves 2-0 down at half and didn’t really look into the game. The players clubbed together in the second half to come back to win 3-2, including a player scoring by sacrificing (herself) to be cleaned out by the goalkeeper showing true heart and getting a broken nose in the process,” recalls Pennington, who now coaches the women’s soccer team at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.

Several players from the team eventually played on varsity post-secondary teams including Samantha Drescher, Tamara Roughead, Simran Parmar and Shayla Chorney for UBC and  Isabella Di Trocchio and Lindsey Pulice at Trinity Western. In addition, after playing for University of the Fraser Valley, goaltender Kayla Klim went on to play professionally in Sweden.

Pennington singles out a couple players and his assistant coach for being the team’s unsung heroes.

“First Samantha Lung. Sam was a pivotal player on this team as a defensive midfielder. She often flew under the radar and didn’t get any of the glory, but this team relied a lot on Sam to win the ball. Sam played a vital role in the success of this team,” says Pennington.

“Second Simran Parmar. Simran was one of the team captains. At nationals Simran hurt her wrist in the semifinals. Knowing that her chances of playing in the final if it was broken were very slim, she didn’t say anything, and even spent a some of the night in pain in the hallway of the hotel the night before the final so she didn’t disturb her roommate. She led the team to victory in the final. A true leader. 

“Finally, the mastermind behind the creation of the team, and assistant coach, Tony Drescher. It was Tony’s vision to create this team. Tony went out and found a coach. He secured sponsorship and funding to allow all the players’ travel expenses to the nationals to be covered.”

After upsetting five-time British Columbia champion UBC Alumni 2-0 in the provincial final, the Burnaby Canadians Anduccis went on to win the 2001 Canadian senior women’s soccer championship with an ending worthy of a Hollywood script. During group play at the national tournament in Vaughn, Ontario the Canadians defeated Saskatchewan 4-0, Newfoundland 3-0 and Quebec 2-0 while tying Ontario 1-1.

That earned them a berth in the final against Nova Scotia, which had not surrendered a goal in winning all four of its games in the other group. In the final, no goals were scored in regulation, or in 30 minutes of overtime. So it was off to a penalty-kick shootout, which turned into a real nail-biter. After each team scored twice in the usual five-shot shootout, the teams exchanged goals and misses in each successive round to where it was 5-5 after 10 rounds.

That left only the goaltenders eligible to shoot. Burnaby goalie Michele Gademans scored on her shot. She then went back in net and saved the shot by the Nova Scotian keeper to secure a national title for Burnaby.

Back: Manager: Mike Everett, Head Coach: Danny Pietramala, Michelle Gademans, Kathryn Manson, Kristine Jack, Kelly Donaldson, Teresa Latham, Phebe Trotman, Leah Stipic, Janine Duprey, Leanna Byrom, Nadia Salvino, Sian Bagshawe, assistant coaches: Chris Johnson and Scott Fletcher.

Front: Catriona Scheffer, Taryn Cervi, Aimee Dunn, Tanya Genovese, Andrea Poole, Lynsey Burkinshaw, Gillian Hicks, Laura Favaro, Leigh Collins, Veronica Lie, Lisa McLeod, trainer: Jonathan Figueroa.
Missing: Sheryl Pietramala, Rosalyn Hicks

But that’s what happened when the Japanese women’s team touring Canada in 2009 asked the provincial champion Burnaby Lake Rugby Club to play a game. It’s the only time a Canadian women’s club team has defeated a national team. 

“They actually requested it, which from our side was a pretty big honour,” said BLRC coach Walter Brandl. 

At the time, Burnaby Lake women’s program was the dominant program in the province. 

“We put a number of Canadian players out on the field, but it was just a real tight-knit group of players that shared success at various levels, the club level, the provincial level and the Canadian level.” said Brandl. 

The game was a tough, hard-fought, 25-24 victory on Sept. 23, 2009. “It was a real close game right from the get-go,” recalled Brandl. “[The Japanese played] a very structured game, very programmed game and they were trying to win the ball with one and two-man rucks because they were typically undersized … It was definitely a contrast in styles.”

The squad became provincial champions by defeating Fraser Valley 3-1 in the final. That victory earned them the right to represent British Columbia at the 1987 national championships in St. John’s, Nfld. Cliff Avenue defeated the host province and Nova Scotia en route to the final against a team from Scarborough, Ont.

In the final, Cliff Avenue overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit to win the Canadian U16 championship 2-1 in overtime. The hero was Maurizio Catania who scored a minute into the second OT period.

Back: Bill Bayley (coach), Hilda Higham, Elsie Thornton, Doris Elliot,Inez Brown, Bill Fowler (manager)
Middle: Elsie Brown, Joan Bullock, Edna Winter, Phyllis Bayley, Betty Elliott, Edie Gilmore, Margaret Robertson, Laura Brown.
Front: Dolly Atkinson, Doris MacLean, Florence Brown, Bernice MacMillan, Dot Spring, Kay MacMillan, Alice Would, Audrey Elliott (mascot).

Jr. Lakers co-coaches Paul Dal Monte and Dave Lough

To say this team was dominant is an understatement. The Jr. Lakers, co-coached by Paul Dal Monte and Dave Lough, rolled through the B.C. Junior A Lacrosse League in supreme fashion. They won all 25 of their regular season games outscoring their opponents by a ridiculously wide margin of 383-147. Eleven of their players were in the league’s top 30 in scoring, led by league leader Kaleb Toth who scored an amazing 69 goals and 130 points in 24 games. Anthony Cosmo was also the BCJALL’s top goaltender with an 86.1 per cent save percentage and a 4.53 goals-against average. In the playoffs, they swept the Coquitlam Adanacs and Port Coquitlam Saints in four games. They then played host to the Six Nations Arrows in the Minto Cup winning the best-of-seven series in five games. Their only blemish the entire season came in Game 3 when they lost 7-6 in double overtime.

They went on to win the Western Canada title in Saskatchewan and advanced to the national championship in Niagara Falls where they beat the host team on penalty shots after the two clubs tied 2-2 in regulation time on a very wet pitch.

Players, (l -r) Back: Rich Clarke, Lori Gazzola, Jill Dyck, Gail Joljart, Liana Poato, Debbie Bonato, Gwen Dixon, April Fahlen, Karen Bogress.
Front: Karen King, Liz Martinello, Gaynor Preston, Lisa, Beaton, Deanna Bankier, Sheryl Kois, Lea-Ann Small, Connie Bourne.