TEAMS, TROPHIES, MEDALS, GREAT FUN BUT A QUESTION REMAINS

By Pierre Filion pierrefilion@bell.net

This is one of the best times of the year for lacrosse; medals are won, teams are honored, players are appreciated and managements are sometimes singled out for the excellence of their governance and wisdom.

It’s also a lot of fun to see Alberta’s rise in the quest for medals and become some sort of a leader and mostly an example for other provinces. Sure, a few imports never hurts (yeah, yeah) but in general terms the game in Alberta has risen and the province is now a recognized legitimate contender for any national championship.

Somehow, I like Alberta; I like their business sense, their calm and organization; I saw their quest for inclusion within the Minto Cup some years ago and the Alberta delegates, often facing a capricious brick wall, never lost their cool and efficiently progressed until they met all the criteria and were included in the Minto Cup competition. They had a ‘’chin up’’ attitude all the way and never complained about some petty stuff they had to deal with. Some sort of quiet wisdom with dignity. And now they win the Minto Cup…

It was great to see Akwesasne (Ontario) win the Founders Cup and Alberta the Carol Patterson trophy.

The Presidents’ Cup will showcase good Senior B lacrosse while, later, the Mann Cup will again pit BC against Ontario. All in all, the Nationals (excluding the minor nationals) will have drawn 26 teams for great competitions, medals and trophies.

The Lacrosse Festival, in Ontario, was again a huge success with more teams than the year before; more players, more visibility, more credibility; and great fun! Simply the largest lacrosse event in the world. 501 teams is a hell of a Festival! What is surprising and a huge disappointment is that Lacrosse Canada’s website never even mentioned the Festival. Hey, the largest lacrosse event in the world was happening in Canada and Lacrosse Canada ignored it. Totally. Someone needs to tell us why.

This having been said, and from a totally different perspective, it is relevant to look at the absentees at two National Championships.

The Carol Patterson competition drew 6 provinces; significant absentees were Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, PEI and NFLD.

The Founders Cup also drew 6 provinces and the significant absentees were Québec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, PEI and NFLD.

There are valid reasons for a province not to show up at a National Championship; we all understand that.

But what needs to be looked at is that last year (2025) every province participated in the Canada Games in an age category just under the ages of the Patterson and Founders Cups. The Canada Games were a huge support towards the development of teams in provinces who needed the most help.

Provincial governments invested monies to support their provincial lacrosse team only to find out that one year later some provinces forgot to consider that the Canada Games were a developmental tool and not just an isolated event.

The Canada Games were a great event with every province showing up. Where have all those players gone? Who forgot to see the functional continuity between the 2025 Games and the 2026 Patterson and Founders Cups?

Where was Lacrosse Canada when time came to work with the provinces for them to understand the strategic link between the 2025 Games and the 2026 Patterson and Founders Cups.?

Lacrosse Canada values unity and indicates that ‘’we work collaboratively with all partners to elevate the sport together’’. On the other hand, Lacrosse Canada financially supports National Championships but was doing something else when time came to insure the largest participation from provinces at Nationals.

Again, we all understand that there are valid reasons for a province not to show up at a National Championship. What is difficult to understand, however, is why Lacrosse Canada did not bend over backwards to help the ‘’absentees’’ and have them show up at the mentioned Nationals.

A National Association wishing to work collaboratively with its partners could have contacted each province early in 2026, find out what their intent was concerning Nationals and have helped the suffering provinces in order for them to attend as they did in 2025…with just about the same players.

A Patterson Cup and a Founders Cup with 9 or 10 provinces are far more credible than an event with 6 provinces. But someone at Lacrosse Canada could have extended the notion of partnership and helped some provinces in order to increase the game’s credibility and visibility.

Collaboratively; remember that word.