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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Lakers a Canadian soccer dynasty

posted by jmeagher at 14h19

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The U-18 Lakers won a bronze at nationals. (Gazette photo)

The Lac St. Louis Lakers dynasty continues.

The Lakers, who’ve performed better than any soccer club in the country at the Canadian championships over the past two decades, shone at the 2008 nationals again last weekend.
Marco Masucci’s under-16 girls’ team struck gold in Sydney, N.S., while both the U-18 men’s (silver) and women’s (bronze) sides also reached the medal podium.

While some may argue that the Lakers dominance is merely a reflection of the region’s strong registration numbers - Lac St. Louis currently boast over 27,000 players, the largest in Quebec - the truth is that the region also produces its share of gems like national-team players Rhian Wilkinson and Jonathan Bourgault, to name a couple.

This past year season also saw two members of the region’s technical staff - John Limniatis and Marc dos Santos - hired to coach the surging Montreal Impact.

But despite their unparalleled success, the Lakers are headed the way of the dodo bird, thanks to the provincial soccer reforms which sees local teams like Lakeshore and Pierrefonds replace the Lakers as regional representatives in the provincial Triple-A ranks.
Next year, only four Lakers teams will be left playing at the U-16 and U-18 levels.

Yvan Dallaire, executive director of Lac St.Louis, laments the phasing out of the Lakers.
For Dallaire and many other soccer enthusiasts, the Lakers, a regional all-star team, provided the ideal solution to elite Triple-A soccer.
And judging from the poor performance of local club teams who made their debut in the U-14 Triple-A provincial ranks this summer, local teams have a long way to go before they can achieve the lofty status held by the Lakers.
As Dallaire noted, it will be a sad day for local soccer when the Lakers disappear altogether in a few years time