Nanaimo Timbermen Senior B Lacrosse Club Press Releases

DBL T-Men miffed over cancellation
Nanaimo Daily News • May 7, 2008

Pat O'Dwyer wants two points and a little more.

The Nanaimo DBL Senior B Timbermen president and head coach has a rare Saturday night open during lacrosse season.

Their scheduled opponents, Tri-City Bandits, will be participating in a fundraiser in Abbotsford on Saturday in honour of George Goodrich, a longtime member of the Surrey Rebels organization, instead of playing the T-Men.

Goodrich is recovering from a brain aneurism.

Because of the cancellation, O'Dwyer believes the T-Men should win the game by default. He also wants financial compensation from the league.

Live gates are a vital source of revenue for a team whose livelihood depends on butts in the seats and advertising dollars from each home game.

Nanaimo's home opener on Saturday -- an 11-1 win over the Valley Rebels --attracted a full house at the Nanaimo Ice Centre. A similar crowd this Saturday would have helped Nanaimo's financial bottom line greatly.

With every road trip involving a ferry, their travel costs are through the roof compared to Lower Mainland teams.

"We'll get the win and the points but there should be some sort of financial compensation," said O'Dwyer. "(The league) really has a hard time realizing how hard it is to put a program on over here."

Bandits' president and head coach Mo Cecchetto said the fundraiser is pretty near and dear to the team's heart.

"A lot of our guys are very close to George," said Cecchetto. "A lot of our players have been involved with that club."

O'Dwyer was made aware of the scheduling conflict roughly three weeks ago but it was his understanding that a switch would be made and another team would fill in for Tri-City.

"I have a heated grievance in with the league right now," said O'Dwyer. "They informed me three weeks ago that they were going to send another team. They were just going to switch teams. I had no problem with that. Now it's come to my attention in the last week that no other team is available to come."

Cecchetto said he did tell the Timbermen they were not coming three or four weeks ago and hoped to find another team to fill in this weekend in their absence but it didn't work out.

The B.C. Lacrosse Association, in it's directive says teams need give opponents 48 hours notice for a cancellation.

Cecchetto would like to have the game rescheduled at a later date and not forfeit the win.

"It's more beneficial to them (Nanaimo) to reschedule the game than take the two points," said Cecchetto.

"They could use the gate, They draw well over there. We followed BCLA guidelines all the way through. My biggest concern is their draw. That's income for their team."

Nanaimo's next scheduled game is Wednesday, May 14 in Burnaby against the Burrards. Their next home game is May 24 at the Nanaimo Ice Centre against the North Shore Indians.