PERREAULT TO JOIN CANADIAN LACROSSE HALL OF FAME

By Larry Pruner - As Published in The Tri-City News

July 9, 2009 - Dan Perreault always thought about just plain winning, not necessarily about one day winning a spot in the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

He’s now accomplished both.

The Coquitlam resident Perreault was among 10 new members named for induction this year into the Hall, it was announced Wednesday.

Also chosen was Ted Fridge, the now-deceased long-time lacrosse builder in Port Coquitlam and Coquitlam.

Now head coach of the Coquitlam Jr. Adanacs, Perreault wasn’t surprised when his phone rang a few days ago and a lacrosse colleague called, thinking it had to do with the ongoing B.C. Jr. ‘A’ league playoffs.

“I wasn’t surprised he called but I was surprised when he said I made the Hall... surprised and honoured,” Perreault, 52, said. “When you’re playing in junior and senior, you’re not thinking about the Hall of Fame at all. You’re thinking about winning a championship.

“It kind of snuck up on me.”

Perreault’s lacrosse pedigree is long and storied, replete with both team and individual honours. He played his entire Junior ‘A’ career in the mid-1970s with the famed Burnaby Cablevision, which captured back-to-back Minto Cups in 1977 and 1978.

Perreault was a three-time all-star and won the league scoring crown in ‘78, finishing his junior career with 536 points, including 251 goals, in 133 games.

A heralded first-round draft pick of the Vancouver Burrards, Perreault went on to amass 469 points in 182 games during his 10-year Western Lacrosse Association career.

Fridge, meanwhile, was first known as Mr. Fridge during his earlier days as an elementary school teacher in PoCo. He was later known in local circles as Mr. Lacrosse, having joined the Port Coquitlam minor association as president in 1974 and, later, pioneered field lacrosse in the Tri-Cities.

Fridge served as the Coquitlam Jr. ‘A’ Adanacs president and general manager for eight years in the 1980s and helped resurrect a financially-strapped Adanacs Sr. ‘A’ team in 1990, helping to guide them to the Mann Cup national series as quickly as 1993. He later spent six seasons as president and GM of the Burrards franchise.

Last May, the city of Coquitlam dedicated a new synthetic turf field at Town Centre Park in Fridge’s name.

The formal Hall induction banquet is set for Nov. 14 at the Firefighters Club in Burnaby. Tickets are $75, or $60 for Hall members. For more information, contact Sohen Gill at 604-421-9755.