Tag: sports

Former Coquitlam Little League champion begins his journey to the Major Leagues

Tim Piasentin’s journey to Major League Baseball begins in Dunedin, Florida.

The hard-hitting Coquitlam infielder is at the minor league complex of the Toronto Blue Jays for the team’s introductory camp of prospects it selected in the MLB Draft on July 13 and 14.

Piasentin, 18, was the Jays’ fifth-round pick — 143rd overall — and on Monday, July 21, the team announced it had agreed to terms with the former Coquitlam Little League All-Star, along with several other of its recent draft acquisitions and non-drafted free agents.

According to MLB Pipeline, a website that tracks prospective Major Leaguers, Piasentin received a signing bonus of $747,500. That’s almost $250,000 more than the assigned value of $503,800 for a player picked 143rd overall.

Piasentin’s contract means he’ll forgo his prior commitment to attend the University of Miami in the fall.

Instead, he’ll likely begin his long and uncertain journey to the Major Leagues playing with Toronto’s rookie-league affiliate, the Florida Complex League Blue Jays, that is based in Dunedin.

As Piasentin continues to develop he could eventually find himself back near home with the Vancouver Canadians, the Jays’ High-A team, its third-highest minor league affiliate.

When he was 12, Piasentin helped take his Coquitlam team to the Little League World Series in Williamstown, PA. He drove in all five runs in its 5-3 win over host Little Mountain in the final of the provincial championship and he hit a home run at the Canadian national championship in Ancaster, Ont.

Piasentin progressed to the Coquitlam Reds program in the BC Premier Baseball League and last spring he graduated from the Okotoks Dawgs Academy program in Alberta that plays in the Western Canadian Baseball League, a top summer circuit for prep school players. He was also part of Canada’s national junior team.

In 2024, Piasentin won the Rawlings home run derby that was part of the Canadian Futures Showcase at the Rogers Centre in Toronto for the country’s top young baseball players.

Scouting assessments praise the bat speed and power of the 6’3”, 200-pound hitter but question whether his defensive capabilities might be better suited to playing first base or right field rather than third base.

Piasentin is the seventh Coquitlam Little Leaguer to crack an MLB organization. The first was catcher Don Gurniak, who was signed by the Montreal Expos in 1970 but never ascended beyond the team’s A-League affiliate before he was released in 1972.

More recently, pitcher Curtis Taylor continues to work his way toward an MLB roster spot. He’s currently playing for the Memphis Redbirds, the AAA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, which signed him to a minor league contract last spring.

Taylor was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2016 and has since toiled in the minor league systems of five other MLB teams, including the Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins. He also played two seasons in the Mexican League.

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Coquitlam slugger plucked by the Toronto Blue Jays

A Coquitlam infielder whose bat helped his team of 12-year-old All-Stars reach the Little League World Series, could someday help the Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series.

Tim Piasentin was selected in the fifth round, 143rd overall, by the Toronto Blue Jays in the second day of the Major League Baseball draft on Monday.

The left-hand-hitting third baseman was part of the Coquitlam All-Stars team that went to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA, after it won the 2019 provincial and Canadian championships.

Piasentin is a graduate of the Okotoks Dawgs Academy program in Alberta that plays in the Western Canadian Baseball League, a top summer circuit for prep school players. He was also part of Canada’s junior national team.

Piasentin is committed to join the University of Miami Hurricanes in the fall.

Heading into the draft, Piasentin was ranked 160th of the top 250 MLB prospects and he was considered to be Canada’s top high school prospect.

Scouting reports praise the bat speed and power of the 6’3”, 200-pound, 18-year-old but question whether his defensive capabilities might be better suited to playing first base or maybe right field.

Just Baseball’s Tyler Fleming said Piasentin’s “violent swing” is “tailor-made to do damage in the air, especially against heaters.”

“His standout tool is his raw power,” said MLB.com’s assessment of Piasentin.

MARIO BARTEL PHOTO When he was 12 years-old, Tim Piasentin helped lead the Coquitlam All-Stars to the 2019 Little League World Series in Williamstown, PA.

His ability at the plate was already apparent as a 12-year-old with the All-Stars when he drove home all the runs in the team’s 5-3 win over host Little Mountain in the championship final at the 2019 provincials and another five runs in its semi-final win over Hastings.

Piasentin also hit a home run at the Canadian national championship in Ancaster, Ont.

In 2024, he won the Rawlings home run derby that was part of the Canadian Futures Showcase for the country’s top young baseball prospects hosted by the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre.

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When they were kings. Coquitlam hoopsters reunite to celebrate 50th anniversary of championship

This story first appeared in the Tri-City News on March 20, 2022

The Centennial Centaurs’ eighth place finish at the recent BC High School AAAA boys basketball championships may not have lived up to the team’s second-place ranking heading into the tournament.

But several kilometres away from the Langley Events Centre, a group of lifelong supporters celebrated anyway.

Players from the 1972 Centaurs’ team that was the school’s only boys side to ever win the provincial senior basketball title gathered last Friday (March 11) at the Vancouver Golf Club to renew acquaintances and catch up.

It was 50 years to the night this group of now senior citizens tasted the sweetest victory of their young lives, defeating the defending champions, North Delta Huskies, 60-40, in front of almost 10,000 screaming fans, friends and family at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

SUBMITTED PHOTO
The Centennial Centaurs that won the 1972 senior boys provincial high school basketball championship gather at the Vancouver Golf Club for a reunion 50 years later.

“It was like a chill ran down your back,” said Greg Hoskins, Centennial’s 6’4” power forward, of the atmosphere that long-ago night. “It was amazing.”

As much as the game was for provincial basketball bragging rights, it was also an opportunity for the Centaurs to avenge an earlier setback by one point to the Huskies at the Fraser Valley playoffs.

North Delta was a basketball powerhouse, having rolled through teams like Abbotsford, MEI and North Surrey that were stacked with big men to win the 1971 championship. Heading into the ’72 final, they’d only lost twice all season.

Huskies coach, the late Stan Stewardson who went on to guide the Simon Fraser University men’s team for several years, had said many of Centennial’s players weren’t good enough to make his squad.

Future NBAer

And the one who was, towering centre Lars Hansen, had been stymied in the Fraser Valleys by North Delta’s strategy to double-team him with a defender in front and behind.

Hansen, who starred at the University of Washington and then played professionally in Europe as well as one season with the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics, said Stewardson’s assessment stung the Centaurs.

“I don’t think there were any doubters on that team,” he said. “We had a confidence. Our physicality was better than North Delta’s.”

Hansen, who’d yet to commit to a post-secondary program, said he’d already been battle-hardened by playing in basketball camps in the United States where he had to overcome the coverage of some of that country’s best high school players.

“That set me up to come back bigger and stronger and a clear idea of what basketball was all about.”

John Buis, who played for North Delta and then went on to a long career with the RCMP that included a stretch in Coquitlam, said the Huskies knew to repeat as champions they had to stop Hansen.

“He was a pretty big guy,” said Buis of the 6’10” star. “He was the key guy.”

As the Centaurs and Huskies careened through the AA tournament’s preliminary rounds on a collision course with each other, anticipation for the showdown grew.

Hoskins said Centennial’s crowded halls were abuzz with excitement that spread throughout Coquitlam as everyone got behind the team from the city’s only high school at the time.

A big deal

Buis said the high school basketball championship was a focal point of the Lower Mainland’s winter sporting scene, commanding pages of attention in all three of Vancouver’s daily newspapers — the Province, Sun and Columbian.

“That was the event to go to,” he said, adding the Huskies’ status as defending champions brought with it its own pressure.

Centennial jumped out to a 12–9 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the teams were tied at 24 when they retreated to their dressing rooms at half time.

Hansen accounted for 21 of the Centaurs’ points.

“With a guy like Lars, you just had to get him the ball and he would take over,” said Hoskins.

“We just couldn’t stop Lars,” recalled Buis. “He had one of those nights.”

By the final whistle, Hansen had scored 39 points, the most that had ever been scored in the championship to that point.

He was named the tournament’s most valuable player, reprising the honour he’d also earned the year before when the Centaurs made it to the semifinals.

Hansen said despite appearances on the score sheet, he didn’t win the provincial title alone.

“I couldn’t be more proud of the way the guys played,” he said, pointing out while his teammates crashed the boards and fought for rebounds. “They just left the scoring to me.”

Bond endures

Hoskins said the bond between the players transcended their roles on the basketball court.

“There was a lot of friendships amongst the team,” he said.

Hansen added, “I thoroughly enjoyed the way everyone accepted their roles. There was no animosity.”

Fifty years later, the bond remains strong.

In addition to the players and coach Gordon Betcher, who’s still alive and spry at 87 years old, several of the school’s cheerleading squad also attended the reunion.

“People don’t really change that much,” said Hoskins. “We just get old.”

For Buis, the experience of two consecutive appearances in the provincial championship launched a lifelong passion to pass that opportunity on to subsequent generations as the tournament’s director for many years.

“The experience was one I’ll never forget,” he said. “It took me into the next phase of my life.”

The 1972 Centennial Centaurs

  • Rob Davidson, guard
  • Terry Uotuk, guard
  • Mitchell Dudoward, guard
  • Art Abram, guard
  • Gary Holte, guard
  • George Musseau, forward
  • Dave Bedwell, guard
  • Greg Hoskins, forward
  • Al Godin, guard
  • Brian Fulton, forward
  • rnold Anderson, centre
  • Lars Hansen, centre
  • Gordon Betcher, coach
  • Scott McNab, manager
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Coquitlam player signs with the Pittsburgh Penguins

A Coquitlam hockey player with a soccer pedigree is now a Pittsburgh Penguin.

Ben Kindel signed a three-year entry-level contract with the NHL team on Tuesday, July 8, after the Penguins selected the 18-year-old forward 11th overall in June’s 2025 Entry Draft.

Kindel’s dad, Steve, is a former Canadian national soccer team player who also played eight seasons with the Vancouver Whitecaps and two seasons with the old Vancouver 86ers of the A-League.

Kindel’s mother is Sara Maglio, who played for the women’s Whitecaps from 2001-05 and made four appearances with Canada’s national women’s team, including at the 1999 FIFA women’s World Cup.

His younger sister, Lacey, is an accomplished soccer player with the Vancouver Rise FC’s academy program. She also represented Canada at a qualifying tournament for the FIFA U-17 World Cup that will be played in Morocco Oct. 17-Nov. 8.

Ben Kindel, a right winger, spent the past two seasons with the Calgary Hitmen in the Western Hockey League where he amassed 159 points in 133 games, including a franchise-record 23-game point streak that spanned more than two months from Nov.8 to Jan. 12.

Not to be outdone on the international stage by the rest of his family, Kindel also played five games for Canada’s gold medal-winning team at the 2025 IIHF U-18 World Championship in Texas in the spring. He scored a goal and added six assists.

“You see the hockey sense, you see the playmaking ability,” said Pittsburgh’s director of player development, Tom Kotsopoulos, of Kindel’s performance at the team’s recent development camp. “I think he’s a kid who’s willing to put in the work, and he knows what he has to do.”

Kindel said he’s excited to be part of a team that’s built around veteran superstar Sydney Crosby.

“Obviously, they have a player such as Sidney Crosby and a lot of other great players that have been here for a long time,” he said of the Penguins’ longtime captain. “But I think like looking up to a guy like Sid for his passion for the game, his loyalty to the Penguins, and his hockey sense and the way he plays the game the right way.”

Kindel told Penguins’ team reporter Michelle Crechiolo while he grew up in a soccer household, his dad was a big hockey fan and he fell in love with the game as soon as he started playing.

Still, Kindel added, he gleaned valuable lessons from his parents’ soccer passion.

“Do everything 100 per cent, no matter what you’re doing, Then, play with passion every time you step out on the field or the rink.”

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Coquitlam student follows a new path through running

This story first appeared in the Tri-City News on Oct. 31, 2021

Cycling’s loss is running’s gain.

Adam Crespi, a senior at Gleneagle Secondary, was trying to figure out an activity he could immerse himself in for four months as part of the school’s Talons outdoor leadership program; he wanted to do cycling, but getting a road bike would be an expensive investment.

To run, though, all he needed was a pair of shoes.

Less than two years later, he’s the Fraser North District senior boy’s cross-country champion and, on Saturday (Nov. 6), he’ll be competing at the provincial championships in Vancouver’s Jericho Park.

Crespi’s also had success running middle distances on the track, including winning gold medals in the U15 provincial championships for the 1500m and 800m races, and a victory at the BC Endurance Challenge last July in Victoria.

Crespi said until economics set him on a running path, he’d never considered the sport.

Now it’s his passion that’s even opened up some unexpected post-secondary possibilities.

“I just really enjoy it,” Crespi said of the initial challenge he set himself to train for a half marathon.

That was just before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As his school and life routines were disrupted by closures and public health restrictions, heading up to Coquitlam’s Mundy Park or out to Bert Flinn Park in Port Moody for a run amidst the trees proved a balm in uncertain times.

“Running provided consistency,” Crespi said. “It made me feel better every day.”

In fact, Crespi added, he loved running so much, when the school year ended he kept going.

He joined the Coquitlam Cheetahs to connect with other runners his age who shared his passion. “Everyone is so driven,” he said of his teammates at the track club. “It pushes you to the next level.”

But where that level was remained largely a mystery through Crespi’s first season as a competitive runner. The pandemic resulted in the cancellation of all meets in 2020. His only measure of progress was against the clock in virtual competitions.

Still, the results were encouraging.

Crespi ramped up his training, running six or seven days a week. He started going to the gym to increase his strength and refined his diet to boost his energy. He hiked up mountains, including the rugged 47-kilometre Juan de Fuca Trail on Vancouver Island that he completed in eight hours.

Crespi said his natural inclination to run comes from his years playing youth soccer.

“Each game you’re running,” he said. “It really builds your leg muscles.”

But, Crespi said, the team sport never really provided the community he’s found in running.

“If someone you meet is a runner, you can instantly start a conversation,” he said. “You’re on the same page.”

Crespi said he’s not sure what to expect at his first provincials. Most of his competitors will be unfamiliar, as will the grassy route at Jericho — the majority of the trails he runs competitively at Mundy Park are gravel or dirt.

He said.his strategy will be to sprint to the front and then try to control the race from there.

“You have to be aware of your pace. In cross-country, the race can easily get away from you.”

No matter where Crespi places though, he’s thankful for the course his decision to start running has taken him. Next fall, that could even mean heading south of the border.

Crespi said his academic aspirations had him eyeing the engineering program at the University of British Columbia. But some encouraging feedback from American schools with well-regarded cross-country and middle distance running programs, like Brown University and MIT, have expanded his educational options.

“It’s really opened up some possibilities,” Crespi said. “If I told myself a year ago what I was going to be doing now, I wouldn’t have believed me.”

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Port Moody player plucked in first round of PWHL draft

Port Moody hockey fans won’t have to travel far to see one of the city’s own make her debut in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

Jenna Buglioni, who was also a top field hockey player when she attended Gleneagle Secondary School in Coquitlam, was selected eighth overall by the new Seattle team in the league’s 2025 entry draft.

That’s seven places higher than the Hockey News’ assessment of top prospects last February.

Buglioni, who scored 164 points in 167 games during her five seasons at Ohio State University, said she’s looking forward to the next step in her hockey career.

“I’m so excited to see the fans rockin’ it at Climate Pledge Arena,” Buglioni said on Instagram, adding she “can’t wait to get to work in November.”

Buglioni was actually eligible to be selected in the PWHL’s 2024 entry draft, but she opted instead to play a fifth season at Ohio State while earning a Master’s degree in sport management.

Buglioni said the additional season would also better prepare her for the rigours of turning pro.

“I have gotten that extra time to work on skills and get more game experience,” she said.

Buglioni won two conference and two national championships at Ohio State, although her final season ended in heartbreak when the Buckeyes were defeated in overtime by the University of Wisconsin Badgers in the NCAA Frozen Four championship final on March 30.

“We were so close to getting that outcome we wanted and it almost felt stripped away,” Buglioni said of the result that came after the Badgers tied the game on a penalty shot with less than 19 seconds left in the third period.

Individually, Buglioni set school records for career and single-season game-winning goals and she tied the program’s record for career short-handed goals.

Buglioni was also the Buckeyes’ captain in her final season and she even sang the national anthem prior to her final regular season game at Ohio State.

Seattle joins Vancouver as the PWHL’s first expansion teams. Neither has yet to announce a nickname.

Vancouver selected veteran Finnish national team forward Michelle Karvinen seventh overall in the entry draft, which took place in Ottawa.

The PWHL is expected to release its schedule later in the summer.

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Chris Wilson wants you to buy his balls

This story first appeared in the Tri-City News on Feb. 25, 2023

Chris Wilson has balls.

Many balls. In a variety of sizes, shapes and textures.

But before this story descends any further into a classic Saturday Night Live sketch, it might be helpful to note Wilson wants to sell you his balls – cheap.

In fact, balls are among the least costly items you’ll find at the annual spring KidSport used equipment sale that runs Saturday (March 4), from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Riverside Secondary (2215 Reeve St.).

For instance, you can get 10 golf balls that went astray from their owners for $1.

Wilson, the chair of KidSport Tri-Cities who’s been running the twice-yearly sale since 2007, said there will be lots of great, gently-used gear from virtually every sport available at bargain basement prices. Proceeds help pay registration fees for the athletic activities for kids whose families might not be otherwise able to afford them.

Many of those activities centre around a ball.

Over the years, Wilson said he’s seen pretty much every kind of ball come through the sale, from football and rugby, soccer and cricket, bocce and basketball, to lacrosse and croquet, bowling and beach.

There’s been buckets of golf balls, boxes of baseballs, bags of tennis balls and laundry baskets filled with softballs.

But Wilson couldn’t say if he’s ever sold a round football that’s used in Gaelic football or a sliotar from the Irish sport of hurling.

One year, a local business donated 1,500 soccer balls commemorating a World Cup tournament and there’s still a few left.

In fact, Wilson said, so many balls have been part of the sale, sometimes he just ends up donating them to local associations to free up storage space.

While most shoppers are on the hunt for bargains on big-ticket items like bicycles and hockey equipment, Wilson said it’s important not to overlook the value of the humble ball.

“It’s the fundamental tool of a lot of sports,” he said.

Even athletes who play sports that don’t involve balls often develop a relationship with them. During Wilson’s wrestling days, he said, he incorporated balls into his training for strength and reflexes.

Wilson said balls are often the entry point into a sport.

Just the simple act of kicking, chasing, throwing or catching one can lead to a lifelong affinity.

“It all starts with the ball,” he said. “It’s the starting point for so many good things that come out of sport.”

Well, the student volunteers from Riverside who will be tasked to inflate the balls the day before the sale to ensure they’re looking their most enticing may have a different take.

Fortunately, said Wilson, they have an air compressor.

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Port Coquitlam defenceman plays on despite crippling, painful disease

This story first appeared in the Tri-City News on Sept. 4, 2022

Nature doesn’t just call for Justin Hill. It screams.

Last summer, the 13-year-old hockey, baseball, soccer and soon-to-be football player was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract that can cause debilitating pain and cramps, as well as sudden, urgent needs to head to the washroom.

Hill was an active young athlete hoping to land a spot as a defenceman on the Port Coquitlam Pirates A1 rep team for his age group when he started feeling pains in his stomach.

The discomfort drained his energy.

At hockey practice, Hill would have to rest for five minutes after each drill.

Sometimes, he’d have to rush from the bench to the washroom.

Instead of playing rep, he was slotted on to a house league team.

Last summer, after doctors finally figured out what was wrong, Hill was put on a liquid diet for two months. He drank up to 15 Boost shakes a day, as well as soup broths. Clear fizzy drinks like Sprite were the only treat he was allowed.

With another hockey season looming, Hill fretted about his ability to play.

“I was worried I’d have to stay at home all day and do nothing.”

But monthly infusions of medication at BC’s Children’s Hospital to suppress Hill’s abnormal immune response that triggers inflammations have helped to stabilize his condition so he can look forward to getting back on the ice.

More importantly, having a coach confide in Hill that he too suffered from a chronic bowel disease helped him cope with the mental and emotional toll of his affliction, which can often leave its sufferers feeling alone and embarrassed.

“It was nice to hear that I’m not the only one who has to run for my life to the bathroom,” Hill said. “It makes me feel like I’m not singled out.”

Hill’s mom, Melissa, said as Justin returned to his sporting activities, the family initiated discussions ahead of time with his coaches to let them know of some of the unique challenges he could face, and how they could support him.

“The biggest thing you learn as a parent is you’re the only one advocating for him,” she said.

In June, Justin received a courage award at the Port Coquitlam Hall of Fame and Sports Awards. He used the opportunity to talk publicly about his disease to help people realize how tough it can be to live with.

He said sharing his struggles helps to give him the drive to overcome them, to show he can persevere and succeed.

This summer, Hill was on the ice up to three times a day preparing for tryouts to make the Pirates U15 A1 team. This fall, he’s planning to sign up for touch football at Minnekhada Middle School where he’ll be attending Grade 8.

Hill said sports are his refuge: When he’s on the ice or the field, he’s able to park the stresses and uncertainties that come with his disease.

“Sports are the thing that make me forget,” he said. “It’s nice to have that.”

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World Series still chills Little League players 35 years later

This story first appeared in the Tri-City News on June 7, 2019

A 35 year-old memory still makes the hairs on Brad Robinson’s arm stand up.

So the former Coquitlam Little League baseball player and current coach expects there will be plenty of chills when he and his teammates from the 1984 team that won a Canadian championship and went on to play in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn., are honoured June 15 with a plaque installed at their home ballpark, Mackin Yard.

The passage of time hasn’t diminished the excitement a 12-year-old Robinson felt when the team’s bus pulled up to the famed stadium in Williamsport, aglow with lights in the August night. Or when they received telegrams of encouragement from hockey stars Wayne Gretzky. and Paul Coffey.

“O my god,” he said. “This is unbelievable.”

A teammate, Chad Hanson, said the experience of playing in the world famous tournament that, even back then, was broadcast live on network television, was “the closest I got to playing pro sports.”

In fact, Hanson’s experience even included an interview by one of television’s most famous broadcasters, the late Howard Cosell.

Although the reason he suspects he was singled out for Cosell’s ABC microphone may not have been so illustrious.

Hanson said he caused a bit of a stir in his team’s first game of the tournament, against Belgium, when he fell for the ol’ hidden ball trick in which a baseman feigns throwing the ball back to the pitcher, then secrets it into his glove and waits for the runner to step off the bag so he can be tagged out.

Hanson said, despite his embarrassing gaffe, that magical summer, in which the team from Coquitlam first bested powerhouse teams from Whalley Little League and Windsor, Ont., to win the Canadian championship in Moose Jaw, Sask., then went on to finish fourth in Williamsport, still resonates.

“It gave you confidence to meet new people through sports,” he said.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO A team photo of the Coquitlam A’s team that represented Canada at the 1984 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Penn. They are: Front (l-r) Scott Leroux, Ryan Seminoff, Jason Lapierre, Chad Hanson, Brad Purdie, Glenn Wright and Greg mein. Back, Sandy Purdie (coach), Jason Hartshorne, Carl Sheehan, Chad Boyko, John Pollock, Bob McDonald, Brad Robinson, Greg Heximer and Lionel Bilodeau (manager).

A lot of those early connections were forged in barracks where all the kids from the eight teams were bunked through the course of the five-day event, eating their meals together, hanging out and playing between games.

“We were just kids,” Robinson said. “We were lucky enough to win some games and get there.”

While the team’s induction into Coquitlam’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2013 exposed their story to a new generation, Robinson said he tries to inform his approach to coaching his own Little League team with the lessons learned by his 12-year-old self.

“I definitely think it’s given me the experience to share with kids what can happen if you put the work in,” he said. “It just transfers over.”

Hanson said seeing how that team brought so many families together, including his dad who paraded around in a chicken suit as the team’s unofficial mascot, instilled in him a lifelong desire to share and give back through sport, which he still does as equipment manager for the Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs lacrosse team.

“It taught me to be the man I am today,” he said.

Though several players from the 1984 team have moved away, or will be unavailable to attend Saturday’s festivities, Robinson said most stay in contact, checking in through email or the occasional get-together. Their bond will endure, he said, especially as the 1984 team has so far been the only team from Coquitlam to ever get to Williamsport.

“It does make it special,” he said.

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Todd Labranche has been booed by lacrosse fans, players and coaches for 21 years. He’s loved every minute of it

This story first appeared in the Tri-City News on April 13, 2022

Todd Labranche decided pretty quickly that an ongoing problem with shin splints would limit his lacrosse aspirations as a player.

So the former PoCo Saint pulled on a striped referee’s jersey.

On Saturday (April 16), Labranche will officiate his 400th National Lacrosse League game, between the Vancouver Warriors and Calgary Roughnecks at Rogers Arena.

He’s one of only two referees in the pro league to reach the milestone.

Labranche, who grew up in Port Coquitlam but moved to Red Deer, AB, in 2014, said he fell in love with the speed and athleticism of lacrosse the minute he picked up a stick and ball when he was nine years old.

A few years later — as soon as he was allowed — he supplemented his passion by refereeing mini-tyke games.

Wear and tear

Labranche played in the Saints system through junior. But the sport’s quick starts and stops, turns and cuts across the floor pained his shins so much he could never finish a game. Referees, however, move mostly in straight lines.

So Labranche put away his lacrosse stick and devoted himself to officiating, working his way up through the ranks until he was hired at the age of 22 as one of three part-time referees at the time in the Western Lacrosse Association.

As the “new kid” with a whistle, Labranche opened his ears to learn all he could from senior officials in the league like future Hall-of-Famer Ron Crosato and Ray Durante.

Labranche said they taught him how to carry himself on the floor, how to talk to players and coaches so each would walk away feeling like they got a fair shake.

They showed him the importance of developing thick skin and a short memory because no referee is ever perfect and they can’t afford to dwell on past mistakes.

Don’t take it personally

Most importantly, Labranche said, he learned how not to take things that happen in a lacrosse game personally.

“Lacrosse is so subjective,” he said. “Not always is everybody going to agree with your opinion.”

A chance encounter with lacrosse legend Chris Gill at Coquitlam Centre mall in 2001 led Labranche to apply for a referee post at the NLL, just as the pro league awarded a franchise to the Vancouver Ravens.

Now, instead of being the bad guy in front of several hundred people in dark, local barns like the old PoCo Rec Centre or New Westminster’s Queen’s Park Arena, he would bear the scorn of 10,000 or more fans, with his every error or missed call replayed on the giant video scoreboards overhead and potentially inciting even more wrath.

Labranche said he also had to wrap his head around the multitude of rule differences between the way lacrosse is regulated by the Canadian Lacrosse Association and by the pro game, as well as making himself heard over the constant din of loud music that plays through games in the big league arenas.

Still, when Labranche was standing on the floor of the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo with 19,000 fans singing the national anthems prior to the NLL’s championship game in 2008, he said the hair stood up on his neck with the thrill of it all.

Players are getting quicker

Over the course of his 21 years as an NLL official, Labranche said he’s seen the players get quicker and more skilful.

“Everyone can score goals, everyone can play defence,” he said. “The pace has increased dramatically.”

Labranche said the secret to his longevity has been coming to terms with his role.

“It’s really just a feeling of how you managed the game,” he said. “We know we’re not going to get everything; there’s some calls that will be left out there. But you have to make sure the players are safe.”

Now 57, Labranche figured 400 pro games would be his ultimate achievement in lacrosse.

But two seasons lost to the COVID-19 pandemic bought him time to build a gym in his basement so he could be in shape to shoot for 500.

“The league is getting younger and I’m not,” Labranche said.

But, he added quickly, “I love the game.”

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