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Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame Announces 2016 Inductees


New Westminster, BC – Nine new members have been named for induction into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame for 2016.

The new inductees include: Players Cam Devine (Ontario), Dan Stroup (BC), Don Stinson (Ontario-deceased), Russ Heard (BC) and Tom Phair Jr. (Ontario). Builders Ernie Truant (BC) and Ziggy Musial (Ontario); and Veterans Jim McNeill (BC) and Zenon Lipinski (Ontario).

The new inductees will bring the number of those honoured in lacrosse's national shrine to 514 --151 Builders, 312 Players and 51 Veterans (those who played in 1980 or before). There are 19 teams inducted in the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame Team Category.

2016 Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame Inductee Bios

Cam Devine (Player)
Orillia, Ontario-born Cam Devine is a five time Ontario Lacrosse Association Jr. A all-star 1976-80. In 1980 he was named the MVP of the OLA Jr. A league and won a Minto Cup with the Whitby Builders. He is the all-time OLA Jr. A scoring leader with 257 goals and 509 assists and set the single season OLA Jr. A scoring record with 76 goals and 171 assists. He won a Mann Cup in 1985 as a pick up player with the Brooklin Redmen. Devine continued to play lacrosse at the Senior A and B levels through the 1980s, but by the early 1990s he was focused on coaching Junior teams. Among other coaching achievements, Devine guided the Orillia Junior B club to five consecutive Founder’s Cup finals, winning in 1994 and ’95. He was inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1998.

Dan Stroup (Player)
Burnaby, BC-born Dan Stoup was an outstanding Jr. player with the Burnaby Cablevision and Lakers teams and in the Western Lacrosse Association and the National Lacrosse League. He amassed 790 total points over 339 WLA games and won a Mann Cup with the Coquitlam Adanacs in 2001. In 13 NLL seasons he played on four Champions Cup winning teams with the Toronto Rock in 1999, 2000 and 2002, and with the Colorado Mammoth in 2006. In 196 total NLL games he compiled a record of 572 total points. In addition, Stroup played on the Canadian Men’s National Field Lacrosse Team in 1998 and 2002. In 2010 Stroup was inducted into the NLL Hall of Fame.

Don Stinson (Player, deceased)
Huntsville, Ontario-born Don Stinson is the only player to have played on seven Jr. A Minto Cup winning teams. Born in 1948, he accomplished this singular record playing for Jim Bishop’s Oshawa Green Gaels from 1963 through 1969. In 1968 he also played three games for Bishop’s Detroit Olympics of the professional National Lacrosse League. Primarily a defensive player, Stinson was known for contributing goals when they counted. He played two seasons of Sr. A with Huntsville and Windsor in 1970 and 1972 respectively before retiring.

Ernie Truant (Builder)
San Vito, Italy-born Ernie Truant has contributed unstintingly for over 42 years to youth lacrosse in BC’s Lower Mainland. Truant has enthusiastically served as a manager of numerous teams at various levels. In addition to his extensive participation in coaching and managing, Truant has also fulfilled many vital leadership and executive roles in lacrosse, all of which have contributed to the betterment of the game, youth and the community and large. Truant began coaching in 1974 in Burnaby Minor Lacrosse and managed Burnaby Jr. A teams through the 1980s. In the 1990s he coached a number of teams including the New Westminster Jr. A Salmonbellies who he took to a victory in 1994 at the Minto Cup. He was three times BC Jr. A coach of the year in the 1990s.

Jim McNeill (Veteran)
Victoria, BC-born Jim McNeill was an outstanding player with the Victoria Sr. A Shamrocks from 1959 to 1968. Over the course of his career he played with legends of the game such as Whitey Severson, Paul Parnell and Don Ashbee, and twice scored 40 goals in a season. After his
playing days ended McNeill was a director of the Shamrocks until 1977 and from 1994 to 1997 he was a director of the New Westminster Salmonbellies. McNeill’s father Hector was inducted into the CLHOF as a builder in 1986.

Russ Heard (Player)
Russ Heard was a stellar lacrosse player whose career spanned over 20 years in Jr. A, WLA and the NLL. In the WLA Heard scored more than 1,000 points, was three times WLA scoring leader, and was twice selected league MVP. In 1993 he set five WLA playoff scoring records including scoring 6 goals in one period. In 2000 he won an NLL Champions Cup with the Toronto Rock. In 2013 the Burnaby Lakers retired his jersey—the first Laker to be so honoured. Heard was a head coach in the WLA for seven seasons and in 2015 was an assistant coach with the New Westminster Salmonbellies.

Tom Phair Jr. (Player)
Brampton, Ontario-born Tom Phair Jr. excelled in both box and field lacrosse. Phair’s Jr. A lacrosse was played with the Brampton Excelsiors from 1985 to 1990. In 1992 through 1994 he played on the Brampton Excelsior’s Sr. A team, winning Mann Cups in 1992 and 1993. In 1994 he played for the Canadian Field Lacrosse Team in Manchester, England, winning bronze. In addition to Major Series lacrosse, he played nine seasons in the MILL and the NLL for Buffalo, Philadelphia, Colorado and Anaheim. In 2006 he won a Mann Cup with the Peterborough Lakers and in the same year he won a gold with the Canadian Field Lacrosse Team at the World Cup.

Zenon Lipinski (Veteran)
Zenon Lipinski learned his lacrosse in the Brampton Minor system beginning in the late 1950s. After a distinguished Jr. A career with Brampton, he was a member of the Mann Cup winning Brantford Warriors in 1971. In 1974 and ’75 Lipinski was with the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League. A defensive specialist, Lipinski led by example on and off the field. A lifetime member of the Brampton Excelsiors, he has held numerous important management and executive positions within Brampton lacrosse. In 2009 he was inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Ziggy Musial (Builder)
German-born Ziggy Musial learned his lacrosse in Brampton, Ontario in the early 1960s. After four years of Jr. A with Brampton he played pro lacrosse with the Toronto Maple Leafs, three seasons of Sr. A with Brampton, Aurora and Brantford, and in 1974 played with the Toronto Tomahawks of the short-lived National Lacrosse League. The 1980s and ‘90s saw him coaching outstanding teams in the Brampton Minor and Jr. A system for which he was awarded the OLA President’s Award in 1995. Promoting lacrosse throughout Ontario and beyond has been an obsession for Musial. His accomplishments are numerous and include media co-ordination for Minto and Mann Cups, setting up an information hot line for Jr. and Sr. Excelsior games, and commissioning a series of limited edition prints titled ‘For the love of the game.’ He is a Life Member o


The formal induction banquet and ceremonies will be held Saturday November 12, 2016 at the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame at the ANVIL Centre in New Westminster, British Columbia. For additional information please visit the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame website at canadianlacrossehalloffame.org or contact David Lancaster, Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame Chair, at (604) 717-5522 or E-mail at davidl@lancasteranddavid.ca