Their connections cross from Burnaby to New Westminster, and their playing career saw them work together for just a few months, but John Wilson and Paul Dal Monte will be entering the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame on the same ticket.
The two are among a group of players, builders and teams that will be inducted to the CLHF in November at a gala event in New Westminster.
Wilson, a New West native, was a first round draft pick of the Burnaby Lakers in 1990, but prior to that was a frequent senior A call-up, including playing alongside Dal Monte on the senior Salmonbellies’ march to the Mann Cup final in 1987 – where Brooklin beat the West Coast champions in seven games.
The offensively skilled forward contributed 11 goals and 17 assists during that playoff run.
Two years later as a senior A rookie with Burnaby, Wilson netted 24 goals and 55 assists for 79 points over 24 games, sharing the league scoring champion Denny Huddleston Memorial Award with Vancouver’s Randy Jones. Wilson would also share the Ed Bailey Trophy that same year, as the league’s top rookie, with another illustrious player, John Tavares.
Over the next 14 seasons, between the Lakers and the Coquitlam Adanacs, Wilson racked up 992 points in 394 games. In three trips to the Mann Cup championships, Wilson totalled 18 games, 13 goals and 15 assists – including six goals in six games in the Adanacs’ national win in 2001.
In 1994, the righthander would play for Team Canada at the World Cup in London, England.
Dal Monte, a native of East Vancouver, is being honoured in the builder’s category, for his work as a coach at various levels. While he first tasted early success as a player on the Burnaby Cablevision during their lengthy run as Minto Cup champions in the late 1970s, he revisited it again as coach with the Burnaby junior Lakers.
He would later become a co-architect of the Burnaby junior A Lakers during their charge to the top of the Minto Cup tournament, winning it in 1998, 2000 and 2002. Dal Monte is currently the Western Lacrosse Association commissioner.
Taking on the coaching duties of the National Lacrosse League expansion Vancouver Ravens, Dal Monte skippered the program into the playoffs in two of his three seasons. He also served as an assistant coach for Team Canada at the Heritage Cup in 2002 and at the World Indoor lacrosse championships a year later.
The formal induction banquet will be held Nov. 9 at the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in the Anvil Centre in New West.
For more information, visit www.clhof.org.
