Senior B lacrosse is back in Coquitlam.
And it’s also resurrecting a beloved old nickname.
The Coquitlam Bandits will join the West Coast Senior Lacrosse Association for the 2025 season.
The Bandits were part of the WCSLA from 2003-15 before becoming the Coquitlam Adanacs in 2016. But in 2022 the team moved to Port Coquitlam and became the Saints before going on hiatus.
The Bandits originated in 1987 as the Burnaby Lakers then adopted the Bandits nickname two years later before relocating to Abbotsford in 2000 then returning to Burnaby for another year prior to decamping for Coquitlam.
Despite its nomadic history, the franchise managed to win 12 league championships.
The new/old Bandits will play its home games on Sundays at 5:30 p.m. at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex.
Fans will have a chance to get reacquainted with former Jr. Adanacs star goaltender Christian Del Bianco, who plays for the WCSLA's Ladner Pioneers and was named most valuable player in the 2024 President’s Cup championship tournament that his team won for the third straight year.
Del Bianco led the Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs to the BC Junior A Lacrosse League and the Minto Cup junior national championships in 2018. He also four individual player awards along the way.
The senior Adanacs subsequently made Del Bianco the top pick in the 2019 Western Lacrosse Association draft.
But his rookie season with the Adanacs lasted just seven games before he was dealt to the Maple Ridge Burrards for two first-round picks in the 2020 and 2022 WLA drafts, playing rights to Chase McIntyre and Ryan Johnson, as well as future considerations.
Del Bianco’s playing rights returned to the Adanacs in 2022, following two years of league play lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, but he never suited up for the team, opting to play Senior B lacrosse with the Pioneers instead.
Del Bianco also played professionally with the Calgary Roughnecks in the National Lacrosse League where he won most valuable player and outstanding goalie awards in 2023.
Other teams in the WCSLA include:
- Victoria Shamrocks
- Nanaimo Timbermen
- North Shore Indians
- New Westminster Salmonbellies
