The moustache may pop to mind, but when lacrosse people talk about Dave Durante they speak about intensity and his desire to win.
Durante didn’t like to lose.
The one-time New Westminster Salmonbellies great is being feted this week with the retirement of his No. 10 jersey, prior to Thursday's Western Lacrosse Association game against Coquitlam (7:30 p.m. at Queen’s Park Arena).
Throughout Durante’s WLA playing career – from 1971 to 1991 – he was instantly recognizable with his thick, dark moustache, rivalling those of baseball’s Mike Schmidt and hockey’s Lanny McDonald. He brought a steely focus to the floor, and as a five-time first team all star, Durante played the game hard at both ends of the floor.
By his track record, there were plenty more wins than losses, especially after the deal that brought him to the Royal City.
“I probably needed a bit of a change,” he said of the trade in 1980 that sent the six-year veteran from Coquitlam to New West. “It was kind of neat to think that a team thought enough of you that they wanted to trade for you, because it didn’t happen that often back in those days. … It was gratifying to know someone wanted you and that you could make an impact.”
It was, to paraphrase a famous movie quote, the start of a beautiful relationship. In 12 seasons with New West, the team would reach the Mann Cup final eight times, winning it all in 1981, ’86, ’89 and ’91.
Add in the one where he picked up the Mike Kelly Memorial MVP award in 1976 – when the ‘Bellies added the Adanac star en route to a seven-game victory over Brampton – and the hardware shared with teammates was a special signature of a stellar career.
“I was pretty fortunate (in 1976) because I had played together with about four or five guys in junior. Prior to going into senior I had played maybe five or six games as a junior callup with New West so I was familiar with the guys. It was special too because we won it on the road, which isn’t easy to do,” recalled Durante.
Their Mann Cup win in 1986 was also in Ontario, the last time a B.C. team has prevailed back east.
“That was a very special team,” remembers then-coach and general manager Casey Cook. “Durante was a great player, a two-way player for us and a guy who was an asset in the dressing room. We had a lot of great players on those teams.”
His jersey heads to the rafters to join some of the game's greatests, including Jack Bionda's No. 12, Cliff Sepka's No. 19, and one-time teammates Paul Parnell (No. 7), Geordie Dean (No. 5), Eric Cowieson (No. 6) and Wayne Goss (No. 13).
Growing up in east Vancouver, Durante played a lot of sports but didn’t seriously pick up a lacrosse stick until he was 18. He was familiar with the game because his father Ernie had toiled in the old Inter-City league as a teammate of Sepka's, in what was the preamble to the WLA.
Younger brother Raymond also took to the game, and the pair would play together in Richmond, Coquitlam and New West. In 1971, Durante got his first taste of victory, leading the Roadrunners to a national title, beating Peterborough in seven games. They'd make it back in 1972 but fall short.
Drafted by last-place Coquitlam in 1973, Durante proceeded to play a key role in the club’s resurgence and won the Ed Bayley Trophy as the league’s top rookie. He followed that by topping the WLA scoring race with 49 goals and 62 assists over 24 games as a sophomore, picking up the Maitland Trophy for Outstanding Sportsmanship and Assistance to minor lacrosse.
The deal that brought him ‘back’ to New West – after having played there as a junior call-up earlier in his career and as a member of the club’s ’76 Mann Cup win, when teams were permitted to supplement their roster with other players for the national championship – came with little premeditation.
Cook recalls a discussion at a league meeting in 1980 with his Coquitlam counterpart, Sohen Gill, where he was asked if he was interested in Durante. He had to contain himself to not sound too eager, less to drive up the price It didn’t take long for a trade to be consummated.
Durante’s impact was almost immediate, helping the club to three straight Mann Cup finals – sweeping Brampton in ’81.
An intense competitor, Durante’s reputation as a teammate and an opponent was less about East Van grinder as it was about a consummate and skilled battler.
“We got drafted in the same year,” recalls longtime New West junior president Walt Weaver. “He went first overall (to Coquitlam) and I went second (to New West). He was just a great talent, an unselfish player but a tough guy to play against.”
Durante’s career resulted in 698 goals and 1,017 assists over 600 games – including one season as a pro with the Quebec Caribous in 1975.
He took to the floor with and against some of the game’s greatest players. He said the two best he ever played with were Goss and Brian Tasker -- both members of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.
“(Goss) just had this ability to get into a position to score, to win a key faceoff and get a loose ball. (Tasker) was a consummate two-way player. He could check anybody in the league, he could score goals like anybody and against any of the top players in the league, and he was as fit or fitter than anyone I knew,” he said.
The toughest player to play against? Durante said few could rival Victoria’s Kevin Alexander, a legendary sniper who dominated on offence for a decade.
“Kevin Alexander was probably the purest goal scorer that I played against or with. He was probably the most pure goal scorer to play the game.”
Weaver said there was always a determined purpose to Durante’s game, that he knew what it took to win.
Still, Durante’s image remains tied to that thick soup straining ’stache that made him look like someone the Philadelphia Flyers could embrace.
Asked if he can recall a season where Durante didn’t boast his trademark moustache, the junior lacrosse executive laughed.
“I can’t honestly remember if he had one in junior or not, but I’m guessing he did,” said Weaver.
‘BELLIES MARKS: New West will be trying to get back in the win column after suffering a 9-7 loss in Langley last week. Leading 7-6 with seven minutes left in the game, the ‘Bellies could not put the brakes to the Thunder’s comeback, fuelled by two goals from Tyler Pace. Counting a pair each for New West were Lyndon Bunio, Mitch Jones and Daniel McQuade.
The loss created an opportunity for Maple Ridge to leapfrog into first place, at 7-2-1-1, while New West sits at 7-2 with two games in hand. Following Thursday’s game against Coquitlam, the ‘Bellies travel to Nanaimo on Sunday.
