The Burnaby Devils upset Pacific Coast regular season champion Richmond 10-6 in the B.C. under-14 youth field lacrosse championships on Sunday.
Joel Sinclair and Josh Dumont both tallied hat tricks to lead Burnaby to the gold medal. Brady French scored a pair of goals, while Mackenzie Burns was named the game MVP for the winners.
"We had a tough time getting to the provincials," said u-14 coach Jeff Burns, following a midseason promotion to Tier I and a subsequent appeal that overturned the league decision. "The game was evenly played. It goes to show it really was our level. But it wasn't a cakewalk."
Burnaby jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the fourth quarter and led by as much as five goals before Richmond staged a mini rally.
But with the clock on its side and Tavin Grant stuck on Richmond's tournament MVP Tyler Moxin, Burnaby managed to keep the lead throughout.
Burnaby was unbeaten at the provincials despite just 14 players on the team roster, beating Pacific Rim, North Shore, Kelowna and Valley along the way.
Brandon Toor was solid in goal for the u-14s, while long poles Brendan Zaph and Robert French anchored a solid back line.
The u-16 Devils missed a chance to go to the provincial finals following a 7-6 loss to eventual silver medallist Mission in the semifinal.
Leading 5-2 in that match, Burnaby had a goal called back on a stick check and seemed to lose steam after that.
The Devils lost the bronze-medal final 11-8 to Nanaimo in a rematch of the opening tournament matchup that the mid-Island also won 11-9 over the host team.
The Burnaby teens were 2-1 in pool play, including a 12-6 win over regular season Tier 2 champion Richmond.
