The team that Jack Crosby and Dan Mattinson built is reuniting to mark a special anniversary.
The members from the last B.C. team to win the Minto Cup in Ontario, the Burnaby Cablevision, are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the historic win this weekend with a golf tournament and get-together.
Leisure suits and puka shell necklaces, unfortunately, will be optional.
Although a couple players will be absent due to holidays and Crosby passed away in 2008, a majority of those involved will hit the links and share memories and tales from long ago on Saturday.
“We had a fun group of guys, we hung out together and we hated to lose,” recalled Dan Perreault, who was a 20-year-old with the Cablevision, named for a local sponsor.
“It was a strong team, we ran three strong lines, everyone had great stick skills, we had an outstanding goalie (Rod Banister) and (Crosby and Mattinson) kind of put us together with (the Minto) in mind.
“I think they had a vision we could be that good.”
Prior to the Burnaby win, which saw them beat Whitby in six games, the last B.C. team to return from Ontario as Minto champions was the New West Salmonacs in 1953.
No B.C. team has been able to repeat the feat since, although the Burnaby junior Lakers won a Minto crown in Alberta in 2005.
Crosby, the general manager, and Mattinson, the coach, began molding the Cablevision roster together a few years earlier, complementing the Burnaby kids with a handful of players recruited from East Van.
The team lost in the Minto finals in 1974 and ’75, then were edged by Kevin Alexander's Victoria MacDonalds in the B.C. final in ’76.
Perreault said the returnees fed off that loss, and came back the next season empowered and focused.
"Watching Victoria win it (in New West) that summer just made us feel all the more determined. We weren't going to let that happen again,' he said.
What Burnaby brought to the floor in 1977 was pure magic, as they dominated their opposition at home and on the road. They went 27-1 against B.C. competition, averaging 20.68 goals a game.
In Ontario, Burnaby lost the first two games to Whitby, but regrouped with an after-game gathering in the bar at their hotel.
"We'd stayed to our rooms and just amongst ourselves the first two games," he remembered. "After Game 2 we thought we needed to get together so we went downstairs to the bar and just talked. We had a few drinks, but spent our time together, talking about what we could do and loosening up. We had come to Ontario to play lacrosse, not to party, so we kept it to a minimum.
"After we won Game 3, that night we went back to the bar and met again. We kind of built some momentum. ... By the time we got to Game 6, the confidence was so high we knew we'd win it. We led 13-3 after two periods."
It was the first of the club's three straight Minto Cups.
This weekend's get-together will include Mrs. Crosby, Jack's widow, along with various team officials and volunteers who contributed in the momentous run to Whitby.
“It’s hard to explain,” said Perreault. “I’ve coached a lot of teams, and you put guys together and sometimes the core is special, and sometimes it’s good. That was just a real special group.”
The team was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2009, while players Rod Banister, Eric Cowieson, Dan Wilson and Perreault, along with Crosby, were inducted individually.
