The ball drops this afternoon (May 30) on Coquitlam’s premier minor lacrosse tournament.
The 39th Trevor Wingrove Memorial tournament features top U13, U15 and U17 teams from across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and USBOXLA. There’s also female U15 and U17 divisions.
Games begin at 4 p.m. and continue through the weekend at various arenas at the Coquitlam Sport and Leisure Complex (633 Poirier St.) as well as the Poirier Forum across the street. The finals in all divisions will be contested on Sunday and players from the National Lacrosse League will be on hand to present awards.
The long-running competition used to be known as the Dogwood Days Tournament. It was renamed in 2011 to honour former Coquitlam lacrosse star and city manager Trevor Wingrove, who died in 2010.
Over the years, the tournament has proved to be an incubator for future stars like Keegan Bal, Reid Bowering, Wes Berg, Ryland Rees and Ben McIntosh.
Two of lacrosse’s biggest stars, Paul and Gary Gait, even competed in its earliest years and they’ve continued their affiliation through a sponsorship by their equipment company, Gait Lacrosse, of an award for most inspirational player to be presented to a recipient from every division.
As well, two individual players will be honoured with bursary awards June 5 at the Coquitlam Foundation’s annual awards ceremony to be held at the Evergreen Cultural Centre.
Ben McIlhargy is the winner of the Trevor Wingrove bursary for his leadership, performance, perseverance and sportsmanship while Devyn Hartley is the recipient of the Les Wingrove bursary.
McIlhargy is headed to Limestone University in Gaffney, South Carolina, to study business and play lacrosse.
Hartley will be playing lacrosse and studying sports management at Lewis University in Chicago.
The bursaries are a component of the Wingrove Family Fund that was established in 2013 to recognize student-athletes that exhibit the same qualities that made Trevor Wingrove an inspiration on and off the lacrosse floor.
