Lacrosse Canada released a statement Thursday regarding the 2024 Mann Cup, specifically regarding the ability for the Victoria Shamrocks to acquire extra WLA players in advance of the tournament.
Victoria announced earlier this week that they had picked up Mike Messenger and Will Malcom from the New Westminster Salmonbellies. It had been reported that BC was considered a “tier two” province this season, and therefore the WLA champs could claim other WLA players.
The statement from Lacrosse Canada clarifies that while that motion (to make BC a tier two province), was carried at the sector level, it had not been voted on by the Board of Governors. That vote officially was carried out yesterday and failed, meaning that the extra players would not be allowed to compete.
Malcom was the first overall selection in Monday’s NLL dispersal draft, and led the WLA in regular season scoring by 37 points. Messenger is a seven year NLL veteran who has never missed a game in his pro career.
The Shamrocks had previously announced that the players would be competing in a social media post earlier in the week.
The full statement from Lacrosse Canada can be found below, or here.
Mann Cup Update
Lacrosse Canada is aware of a situation related to the Victoria Shamrocks with regards to adding two players for the 2024 Mann Cup in Six Nations that begins tomorrow, Friday, September 6th.
Lacrosse Canada was presented with a policy change to 24.3.2.2 at the Semi Annual meeting to allow BCLA (British Columbia Lacrosse Association) to become a Type 2 association for Sr A National Championships. This motion was carried at the sector level.
However, the Board of Directors still had not voted on this policy change and an immediate vote was held yesterday September 4th, 2024 by all Board members. The requested policy change did not pass, therefore BCLA will remain as a Type 1 rating and the Victoria Shamrocks will not be able to pick up players to their roster for the 2024 Mann Cup.
No further comments will be made at this time.
The Shamrocks are looking to become the first WLA team to win the tournament since 2015, and the first to win in Ontario since the 1986 New Westminster Salmonbellies won the tournament in Whitby.
The Chiefs did announce that games would be streamed online, first on Cable through Rogers TV and Cable 14, then the replays will all be put on Youtube. The last time the tournament was streamed on Youtube was in 2022, when Peterborough and Langley went the full seven games.
That final game between the Lakers and Thunder now has more than 30,000 views on Youtube.
The Mann Cup begins tomorrow, Friday September 6th.