The Maple Ridge Burrards will be without their biggest star as they start practices this week.
The WLA team learned that Curtis ‘Superman’ Dickson will play the coming year with an Ontario team.
The dynamic 26-year-old Coquitlam native has become a lacrosse star, considered one of the top snipers in the game. He will play with the Peterborough Lakers for the coming season.
The Lakers are one of the most storied teams in Canadian lacrosse history. They have 13 Mann Cups and are almost always in contention for the next one.
“I want to get to Peterborough to help them win one. All I hear are good things and I’m excited to get East to pursue the Mann Cup,” Dickson said.
Between playing field lacrosse, losing time due to injuries, Dickson was limited to five games with the Burrards last season, when he put up 10 goals and 15 points. But in the 2013 campaign he led the league with 58 goals and 103 points in 17 games, and was the league MVP. For his career with the Burrards he has 140 goals and 243 points in 53 games.
He has had a great year with the Calgary Roughnecks, and is among the NLL leaders with 94 points (eighth), and 48 goals (fifth) in 18 games.
“You don’t replace a Dickson very often,” remarked Burrards coach Chris Gill.
While he knows his team will be missing a game breaker, Gill said he was again not expecting a full season out of Dickson this year. The star had estimated that he was only going to be in the Burrards roster for four or five games. He had commitments on the East Coast, explained Gill, which may include playing professional field lacrosse in the U.S.
Dickson was a key player for Team Canada in the outdoor game.
“He’s been a good player on this team and in this league, and he’s a friend to everyone. It’s good to help him out,” explained Gill.
The Burrards may expect some talent returning from the Lakers for the loan of Dickson, at some point.
Gill said the team will expect more offense out of Ben McIntosh this season. He emerged during the playoffs last year with 27 goals and 38 points in 11 games. He has carried that on in his rookie NLL campaign, and has scored 37 goals and 86 points in 18 games with the Edmonton Rush – leading all rookies and just three off the all-time rookie record.
The Burrards are working towards their home opener on May 24 at Cam Neely arena.