In weather conditions that would cause lesser men to shake and shudder, players on the four Powell River Men’s League Soccer teams began playoffs for the Lucas Cup.
“It was freezing out there, wasn’t it?” said Dean Thorsell, who organized the fall and winter league.
Playing in miserable weather is testament to the players’ dedication to the newly formed league. When it’s cold, it’s a good day, said Thorsell.
“It’s cold, but at least it’s not raining,” he added. “Some days we have downpours and the guys are still out there. The only thing that will stop us is the snow, and the only reason we stop in the snow is because the field is closed.”
At the end of spring and summer league play, Thorsell said he hoped for fours teams to play from September to March.
“We did that with about 20 players on each team, but each week we actually managed to get out about 11 or 12,” he said. “People are away for whatever reason, but most of the time we’ve managed to get full-sided games in, which is great.”
In the first semifinal game on Wednesday, January 4, Sliammon Sea Lions lost 3-1 to a team named, appropriately enough, New Team.
“Everybody is a new team, really, but they call themselves the New Team,” said Thorsell. “They were just sponsored by Tim Hortons, so you can call them the Tim Hortons New Team.”
The second semi-final game, played Friday, January 6, featured Young Bucks, a team comprised of players who are 15 and 16 years old, beating Powell River United, whose lineup consists of players over 45, by a score of 6-5.
“It was a nail-biter, for sure,” said Thorsell.
According to Iain Livingstone, who has been around the soccer scene in Powell River since he arrived here in the 1970s, not much is known about the origins of the Lucas Cup.
It was named after Tommy Lucas, an old-time soccer player and coach in the 1950s and 1960s, said Livingstone.
“The Lucas Cup was retired sometime in the late ’70s or early ’80s and was played for as a sort of league cup where the teams all went into an open draw,” said Livingstone. “It gave teams that were not normally in a playoff race a chance to win something.”
Lucas Cup was last competed for in the 1980s as a mid-season competition, said Livingstone. It returns as a fun, mid-season tournament.
The consolation game between Sea Lions and United takes place Wednesday, January 11, and the championship featuring Young Guns and New Team is set for Friday, January 13. Both games will be played at Brooks Secondary School’s turf field beginning at 7:15 pm.
Teams return to regular league play at the conclusion of tournament play.
“We are going to continue up until the end of March when we’ll have another tournament,” said Thorsell. “Then we’ll have our spring and summer league.”
