Susan Kirkby has been a Burnaby Minor Lacrosse Club executive and its registrar since 2004. She has been its president since 2022. In 2010, after Burnaby’s “Mr. Lacrosse’ Jack Crosby, a Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame Honoured Member inducted in its first class in 2001, passed away in 2008 Kirkby became the head organizer for the minor lacrosse tournament named after him that had begun in 2004.

Kirkby’s tireless efforts have been recognized with awards both by Burnaby Minor Lacrosse and the BC Lacrosse Association, which gave her the Ruth Seward Award in 2011. She also served as second vice-president and first vice-president of the BMLA between 2009 and 2022.

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 recently 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).

The Lakers finished first in the BCJALL regular-season standings in 10 of the 12 seasons and were second the other two. Their won-loss-tie 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.

Ava Regan is a graduate of Burnaby Central, Regan has moved on to play midfield for the University of New Hampshire Wildcats women’s field lacrosse team. She has also played on several provincial teams for BC Lacrosse

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.

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).

Paul Dal Monte had an impressive junior lacrosse career winning consecutive Minto Cups in 1977, 1978 and 1979 with Burnaby Cablevision, and more than 12 years playing for the New Westminster Salmonbellies senior squad.

Dal Monte went behind the bench with the Burnaby Junior A Lakers in 1995. Dal Monte co-coached the team to B.C. championships every season from 1996 to 2003. They went on to win Minto Cup titles in 1998, 2000 and 2002.

More than 50 players from those teams played professionally in the National Lacrosse League. His record with the Jr. Lakers was an impressive 253-45. In addition, he helped coach team Canada to a Heritage Cup championship in 2002 and a world championship in 2003.

Dal Monte was also head coach and director of lacrosse operations for the Vancouver Ravens of the NLL during the team’s three years of existence (2002-2004).

Dr. David Lough has sent more junior A lacrosse teams to consecutive Minto Cup finals than any other coach in the history of box lacrosse. Lough guided the Burnaby Lakers to 12 Minto Cup championships, winning five times in 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004 and ’05.

In 13 seasons as a co-coach of the junior A Lakers, Lough’s only losing season was the first season in 1995. During his tenure, Lough fashioned a career league record of 248 wins and just 36 losses, winning 10 regular season titles from 1996 to 2002, and again in 2004 and 2006 through ’07.

In the playoffs, the Lakers were almost unbeatable, taking 12 straight B.C. titles, winning 82 times and losing just 15. In 12 consecutive appearances at the Minto, under Lough, Burnaby featured in 10 final title series or games in a row.

His overall career coaching record with the junior A Lakers was 365 wins and 81 losses.

For decades George Pittendrigh’s 13th Avenue home was a beehive of activity every spring as a steady stream of boys and parents came to his home to register for the lacrosse season.

The stream didn’t stop with the start of the season. It just kept flowing right through the summer. On his days off, or, in his spare time, boys would come to him to have their sticks restrung and equipment mended. He kept extras so when boys showed up Pittendrigh didn’t have to turn anyone away if they couldn’t afford it.

Pittendrigh cleared a vacant lot next door to his home overgrown with blackberry bushes and fruit trees so neighbourhood boys could play. So many showed up he decided to organize the South Burnaby Minor Lacrosse Association. In 1974, he was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame as a builder of minor lacrosse.

That earned him the title “The Father of Minor Lacrosse in South Burnaby.” At least, that’s what one newspaper article called him. Pittendrigh’s 40 years of service also earned him a life membership in the B.C. Lacrosse Association. Pittendrigh, who was born in 1894, died on May 5, 1983.