Knights Represent VFLL Proud at Provincials

The Victoria Field Lacrosse League's Knights headed off to represent the league at Provincials after a hiatus that is too long to remember; it may be in gest... but many of the current players weren't even born yet when the last Victoria team attended a Provincial tournament. But that is to say now... we are back in the fold and teams are ready to compete for next season. But first, a recap of a truly amazing season...

The Knights spared no expense to attend these Provincial games. The trip started off with a wonderful early morning breakfast at the Dutch Bakery in downtown Victoria. The team then boarded a Wilson's Coach Bus and proceeded up the Patricia Bay Highway to the Schwartz Bay Ferry Terminal where they caught the 9am ferry to Vancouver. After a smooth and relaxing ferry ride, the team and their families watched some game film from the 2022 Provincials (they had a mole "borrow" the film from the Walley Ballers) ~jk

Arriving at the Coquitlam Town Centre Sports Complex at 12pm, the team anxiously watch a bit of Hunters vs. Attack game before theirs. The Golden Crusaders then took the field to face the Warlocks from New Westminster in their first inter-league match of 2023. The Knights appeared a tad leery at first but then eased into the scoring column a few times in the first quarter. The Warlocks fought hard and performed their wizardry a few times in the match but the confident Knights took control, commanding the battlefield, holding a halftime lead of 7-3 and winning the game 15-5.

With a game break before their 4:30pm match against the Tri-City Eclipse, the Knights sat at the round table and enjoyed a sweet mid-evil spread of roasted meat (chicken, pig, rabbit, etc.) and local vegetables like carrots, cabbage and onion. Their pregame meal was also served with bread, dried fruit and a drink of non-alcoholic mead or non-alcoholic beer. A real meal worthy of a Knight!

The Knights again had to lay the foundations early in their game with the Eclipse, to keep themselves grounded and work hard every shift. It was an entertaining game to say the least. The Men from Space versus the Mid-Evil Dragon Slayers, proved to be a great match-up, especially in the first half. Goals were scored back and forth with one team taking the lead, then the other tying the game, then vise-versa. The third quarter is where the metal masked marauders started to possess the ball longer than the moon-men. The Knights carried the remainder of the game until the Eclipse mustered two late goals but it wasn't enough and the Knights prevailed by the score of 11-7.

The Knights' unscrupulous leader rallied his men behind him to return to their hotel, the Fairmont Pacific Rim where they unmounted their horses; removed their coat of mail called a hauberk, made of metal rings linked tightly together to protect their bodies and finally underneath this they wore a padded shirt called an aketon. Quite a bit of armour just for a lacrosse game, huh? They enjoyed a bountiful feast at the Wild Fig or maybe it was a White Spot? Either way, it was located in their hotel and it did the trick. Many stayed up, drank mead around the bonfire they built in the hotel lobby, blatantly disregarding the local laws and observations they were required to follow in this foreign land of Coquitlam, BC. Most fell asleep to the sound of the crackling fire and moonlit evening as they anticipated their early morning semi-final game.

A few short hours later, the Knights mounted their steeds and headed for the battlefield located at Cunnings Field. They faced the CWFLL league leading Hunters. This game was a wonderful watch and we hope that many of you got to view the game "live", if not, it is saved on the VFLL Facebook page compliments of our league executive.

The game action was back and forth with no team ever holding more than a two goal lead throughout. The Knights scored the first two goals, then the Hunters returned the favour with 3 of their own. Knights tied the game 3-3 then the Hunters scored and Knights evened it up to make the score 4-4 after one quarter. Either team was able to mount a great attack in the second quarter with each only potting two to make the half-time score 6-6. The tremendous rainfall dampened the play in the final two quarters but each team managed to bury two more goals in what seemed like a game inevitable for overtime but the Hunters managed a weak-side goal with just over a minute left and the Knights could only manage one fast-break opportunity but the Hunters thwarted that play by knocking down crease pass and going the other way. After a Hunters timeout, they killed the clock and the final opportunity for the Knights.

The Knights represented the Victoria Field Lacrosse League well. Even with the wind and ferry cancellations, the team managed to all return to the coach bus, arrive at Tsawwassen ferry terminal (having to wait a couple of hours) and enjoyed an "All You Can Eat" buffet on the boat, compliments of the VFLL Commissioner and Executive.

League Executive concluded that the Knights finished 3rd in the Province by virtue of defeating the other semi-finalist (Tri-City Eclipse) in round robin play. Congratulations Knights! A wonderfully played weekend and certainly a great first step to the return of Island lacrosse.

Knights video of Provincials (except Eclipse game) can be found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/victoriafieldlacrosseleague, compliments of our Commissioner and Assistant. Play-by-play done by Ron-Ron McLean and Don Cherries-Jubilee.