It doesn't seem to matter to Rick Mang. Give him a lacrosse stick and set of goalie pads and he'll find a way to win.
Surrounded by a strong supporting cast of skillful finishers and punishing defenders, like the one the Port Moody Express brought to Prince George this past weekend, Mang is virtually unbeatable.
Twice Mang has won Mann Cup senior A national championships (with New Westminster in 1991 and Brampton in 1989). He also has the President's Cup senior B (with North Shore in 2001) and Minto Cup junior A (Peterborough in 1986) national titles to his credit. Sunday at Kin 1, he added to that trophy collection.
The 46-year-old from Port Coquitlam made 33 saves as the Express rolled to a 9-3 victory over the Coquitlam Cobras to capture the Treasure Cove Casino Senior Invitational/B.C. Senior C titles.
After losing to the Cobras for the West Central Lacrosse League playoff title 2-1 in a best-of-three series, with each game decided by one goal, the Express took control of Sunday's game early, jumping out to a 4-0 first-period lead. Chase Dunlop got Coquitlam on board, but a quick overhand flick from Ed Gosse and an acrobatic jump shot from Justin Thomas, with his second of the game to make it 6-1, removed most doubt about the eventual outcome.
"We came up here for a reason, we had to settle a score after they beat us in the playoffs and luckily we were able to be successful today," said Mang, who accepted the Fred Doig Trophy from Doig, a B.C. Sports Hall of Fame member.
"We never counted these guys out, even going into the third period. They have a talented team and they had a great year. We were fortunate that we won today."
Not only did he stop shots, but Mang also was an offensive catalyst, with 15 assists in five games.
"It's a tough pill to swallow, we beat 'em in a tough series back at home and they just came out on top today, said Coquitlam captain Mark Dennison. "Rick Mang is definitely a leader out there, he's got a lot of experience and he just got them fired up to go."
Coquitlam's offence came to life in the second period but Mang refused to crack, even after taking a hard shot off the inside of his knee that left him limping. Seven Port Moody shooters got into the scoring act as the Express won the senior C title for the first time since 2006.
Express captain Ryan Jacobsen, who came to rink Sunday sporting two black eyes courtesy of a one-sided scrap with Paul Bryant of the Riverstone Pub/Regional Security Stylers on Saturday, credited Mang for providing the backbone Port Moody needed to avenge their playoff loss to the Cobras two weekends ago.
"He's got so many cup rings, we couldn't have done it without him," Jacobsen said
The Red Deer Silverbacks doubled the College Heights Pub Assault of Prince George 12-6 in the bronze-medal game Sunday. Shaun Wilhelm led Red Deer with two goals and four assists, while Shandi Werenka, Patrick Vollner and Trevor Howse also scored twice. Former Prince George resident Jesse Huffman had three assists. For the Assault, Clarke Anderson, Dave Jenkins and Shawn Ingham all had two-goal games.
"I think with our lack of quality shots we faded away toward the end of the game -- we just couldn't get in tight like we were earlier," said Anderson. "We hit a lot of posts and couldn't hit the mark. We had over a month off. If we had just come out of playoffs where we swept the Bandits, it would probably would have been a different outcome for us."
The understaffed Armstrong Shamrocks, with just eight players, finished with a 1-3 record and won the Dorothy Robertson Trophy as most sportsmanlike team.
