During the spring of 1973, Wayne Finck invited the Rexdale, Ontario Midgets to Halifax to partake in a planned four-team tournament. Rexdale was one of several teams that had hosted Wayne’s midget team on a ten-day trip the year before; now the idea was to return the hospitality. Word quickly spread throughout southern Ontario and by July, eight teams were on the way east! In addition to four local teams, squads from St Catherines (2), Peterborough, Rexdale, Windsor, Nepean, Whitby (2) gathered in Canada’s best hospitality town to play lacrosse.
The local lacrosse community rallied around the event. The president of Lacrosse Nova Scotia in 1973, John Barr, arranged with Petro Fina (the forerunner of Petro Canada) to donate the championship trophy. The result was the creation of the Lobster Trap, which continues to be one of the most unique awards in all of sport. The Lobster Trap was competed for annually well into the eighties but as lacrosse faded in Nova Scotia so did the tournament. Following the last competition in 1985, the beautifully crafted Lobster Trap rested in several spots, among them the basement and stairwell at Sport Nova Scotia! In 2004, Wayne Finck found the trophy and had it refurbished and placed on display.
The tournament was then resumed in July 2004 after a hiatus of 19 years. As Lacrosse has returned to Nova Scotia – so has the Lobster Trap Tournament! In 2005, a tournament committee headed by Bob Friesen worked diligently to restore the legacy of the Lobster trap to its former stature as one of the Nova Scotia’s premier sporting events. For more information including the dates and times of the 2007 version of the Lobster Trap 2-5 Aug please visit www.lacrossens.ca for registration forms and contact info.
Records are few and far between. If you know the missing tournament champions, please help us complete the records and you can win a free weekend pass to the tournament.
Past champions are:
1973 Peterborough, Ont
1974 Peterborough, Ont
1975 Southern Etobicoke Lacrosse Association Raiders (SELA Raiders)
1976 Hamilton
1977 Erindale
1978 Peterborough, Ont
1979 Erindale
1980 ?
1981 ?
1982 St John defeated Spryfield in final game. Wayne Finck referee
1983 ?
1984 ?
1985 ?
1996 Capitol District Lacrosse (Fredericton, NB)
2004 Dartmouth Bandits
2005 Calgary Axemen, (Calgary, AB)
2006 Dartmouth Bandits (Dartmouth, NS)
2007 Fundy Riptide (NB)
2008 Edmonton Wizards (Edmonton, AB)
