A defining moment in its club history is a day away for the Burnaby Lake Rugby Club.
Burnaby Lake will be contesting the provincial finals in three separate B.C. Rugby Union divisions, including the premier men's and women's championship games at Wallace Field in Victoria this Saturday.
The premier women will take on defending champion Velox Valkyries for the Gordon Harris Memorial Cup, while the men's team will be up against the 22time Rounsefell Cup champion James Bay Athletic Association in the premier division.
Burnaby Lake will also be vying for a third title when the men's second team takes to the field against the host University of Victoria in the Division 1 final.
The premier men advanced to the championship final with a 26-10 win over the Castaway Wanderers, the team that stopped Burnaby's eight-game regular season win streak a month ago.
Despite the loss, Burnaby Lake went on to win the league season with a 10-4 record over James Bay and defending Rounsefell Cup winner Capilano.
"James Bay has had 22 wins in this competition. They are very experienced," said Burnaby Lake head coach Kris de Scossa. "But we've executed our three-year plan with hard work, and it's coming to fruition.
"We've shown we can compete with everybody. The final will be played in the cauldron of B.C. rugby, and we're ready to go into that cauldron. We've been knocking on the door, and it's been open for us, and we're going to step on through."
Nearly 20 years ago, prior to the merger with the Vancouver Trojans that led to the Burnaby Lake club, the Fraser Valley champion Burnaby Buffaloes nearly pulled off the impossible before narrowly falling to the powerhouse University of B.C. Old Boys in the cup final at Brockton Oval.
De Scossa believes this weekend is another of those defining moments.
While the women's team has been no stranger to cup success, having won five Gordon Harris tankards since 2003, the men's only taste came in 2011, when Burnaby Lake won its first Ceili's Cup in the elite Div. 1 final.
"We got here not with 15 men, but with four teams of men and two teams of women. Our club is strong and right now, it is a defining moment," he said. "It could fulfill a legacy and define this club going forward. Big things are happening. We're going to go through that door, and no one's going to stop us."
Burnaby Lake is scheduled to play James Bay in the Canadian Direct Insurance premier league final at 4 p.m. The Div. 1 final is set for 2 p.m., while the premier women's final will kick things off at noon.
