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2005 Sohen Gill 240From Burnaby, BC, Sohen was introduced to the game of lacrosse at age eight while hanging out with friends in Burnaby’s Confederation Park.

A buddy provided him with a stick but his parents refused to buy him running shoes.  Gill’s team played between periods of a senior game, resulted in a picture of him scoring a goal appearing in the Vancouver Sun. His parents quickly purchased a pair of running shoes and Sohen has been running in the game ever since.

He was introduced to lacrosse in North Burnaby, played in the 1961 Minto Cup and had an eight season Senior career accumulating 65 goals and 76 assists for 141 points in 111 games. After the 1969 season, Sohen mothballed his lacrosse stick, but not his enthusiasm. In the next seventeen years he held positions as coach and general manager for junior and senior teams in Burnaby and Coquitlam.

In 1987, he began a four-year term as Commissioner of the WLA and was sidelined after a firefighting accident which nearly claimed his life. Just three months after the accident, Sohen took on the chores of assistant coach with the Coquitlam Junior Adanacs, became the assistant commissioner of the B.C. Masters Lacrosse Association and chaired the first Canadian Masters Lacrosse Tournament. Gill spent 1996 to 2000 with the WLA Maple Ridge Burrards in various roles; chaired the BCLA Senior Directorate in 1992; scheduled WLA games between 1998 and 2002; chaired the CLA Box Lacrosse Sector between 1993 and 1998; was a member of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame Western Player Selection Committee from 1993 to 1997; convened the Mann Cup championships in 1993 and 1999; convened the Minto Cup championships in 1994 and 2000 and convened the Presidents Cup Senior “B” championship in 1995.

Sohen was appointed the WLA Commissioner in 2002 and selected as BCLA president, two positions he currently holds.  Other extracurricular lacrosse activities included chairing the Hall of Fame induction banquets since 1993, coordinating BCLA golf tournaments, hosting the hospitality room at the BCLA AGM, helping at lacrosse clinics and arranging fundraisers.

Sohen’s many honours include: BCLA Manager of the Year in 1980; WLA Executive of the Year; CLA Recognition Awards in 1983 and 1990; WLA Recognition Award in 1991, and BCLA’s top award, the Tom Gordon “Mr. Lacrosse” Shield in 1991 and 1993.

If there is a need for a person to administer a league, a team, a committee, a tournament; just call on the ever-accommodating Sohen Gill. For him, lacrosse is a calling. He does anything and everything.  Lending a helping hand is Sohen’s passion; the game of lacrosse is his love.

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