B.C. lacrosse coach gets 18 months probation for assaulting player

A Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Famer and British Columbia lacrosse coach has been sentenced to 18 months probation for assaulting a player.

B.C. Provincial Court Judge Nicholas Preovolos delivered his ruling to 59-year-old Rick Mang on Wednesday in Port Coquitlam.

RCMP told CBC News that Mang was charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of assault in October 2023 in relation to an incident that happened at a sports centre the year prior. 

Mang pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of assault following discussions between his defence team and Crown counsel, according to the B.C. Prosecution Service. His lawyer declined to comment on the case. 

The player who was assaulted is a woman in her 20s who cannot be identified due to a publication ban.

She told CBC News she reported what happened to her to prevent other athletes from experiencing the same, and to raise concerns about how sports organizations handle abuse complaints. In her case, delays by a B.C. association allowed Mang to remain accredited for months after he was suspended. 

“I spoke up to protect others, especially young female athletes,” the woman said. “Although they may never know my story and the battles I fought, I did it for them.”

According to an agreed statement of facts, the assault occurred when Mang and a group of players were gathered in a parking lot after a tournament in July 2022.

The court document says Mang was “visibly intoxicated” and giving the victim his credit card to pay for pizza when his hands slid down her back and touched her “buttocks.” He also hugged the woman from the side and from behind and brushed up against her breasts.

The statement of facts says Mang called the young player “sugar,” “mama” and his “lacrosse wife,” and made a comment about his “lacrosse stick,” which the woman interpreted as a reference to his penis.

During part of his probation, Mang must abide by a number of conditions, including a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. He also must complete 40 hours of community service and a forensic sex offender program.

In ordering the latter, the judge noted that while Mang only pleaded guilty to assault, the offence was “sexual in nature.”

‘If I could take this back, I would’

In court Wednesday, Mang apologized to his former player, saying “If I could take this back, I would in a heartbeat.”

He said his behaviour on the day of the assault was connected to a drinking problem he had, which began in 2019 after his 25-year-old son died. He said he has been sober since September 2023. 

Mang was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame as a goalie in 2017. In a video recording of his speech, a celebratory Mang is seen walking up to a podium and addressing the audience. 

“I guess I will start by answering the question that I was asked the most throughout my career: Why would someone ever choose to be a lacrosse goalie?” he asks the crowd, to laughs.

“For me, the answer was easy. I was the middle child in our family and was starved for attention,” Mang jokes.

He got his start in minor lacrosse in his hometown of Brampton, Ont. Mang played with the Peterborough Maulers, where he won the Minto Cup in 1986, and then moved out west to B.C. to play Senior A with Coquitlam.

He later switched to the New Westminster Salmonbellies, winning the Mann Cup title with them in 1991, before returning to play with his hometown team for another Mann Cup win in 1998. 

Afterward, he turned to managing and coaching in the Senior B level.

Speaking at the 2017 induction, master of ceremonies Dave Evans said Mang forged “one of the most outstanding careers of any Western Lacrosse Association goaltenders in present memory.”

Suspended from coaching

A committee of coaches with the B.C. Lacrosse Association (BCLA) conducted a disciplinary hearing for Mang in August 2022. CBC News obtained a copy of the findings of the hearing.

In it, the committee ordered the immediate removal of Mang’s coaching credentials and suspended him from “any and all” coaching with BCLA until 2027. 

It also said it would report the incident to the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame to recommend that it review Mang’s induction.

“The concerning aspects for the committee were that an individual who is a Lacrosse Hall of Fame member and well respected in the lacrosse community in many ways, used that position of power and stature within lacrosse to engage in a campaign with an individual that is substantially younger to promote his own sexual innuendos,” the committee said.

Mang did not respond to repeated requests for comment through his lawyer or his Facebook account, which shows activity as recent as this month. 

Complaint filed against BCLA

The woman who Mang assaulted lodged a formal complaint with Lacrosse Canada in June 2023, accusing BCLA of acting too slowly on its committee’s decisions. 

When a third-party complaint resolution officer was brought on to investigate, they agreed. In documents obtained by CBC News, the officer determined BCLA “failed” to act upon its disciplinary decision “in a timely manner.”

The officer also found BCLA didn’t notifying the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame of Mang’s suspension until December 2022, four months after the decision was made. Lacrosse Canada didn’t find out about the suspension until it reached out to BCLA about what was happening itself, in March 2023.

“Steps appear only to have been taken by [BCLA] when prodded by others. That is a failure to act as a responsible sport association dealing with a matter of significant concern for safe sport,” the complaint resolution officer wrote in their investigation report.

BCLA’s “failures created an ongoing unsafe sport environment by allowing Rick Mang to remain accredited,” they added.

BCLA paid a $1,500 fine to the Lacrosse Canada’s safe sport budget, records show.

Mang is listed on the national body’s discipline list as suspended until August 16, 2027 due to “code of conduct.”

The Lacrosse Hall of Fame told CBC News Mang is still inducted.

Marie-Claude Asselin, CEO of the organization responsible for Abuse-Free Sport — a program that works to address maltreatment in sport in Canada — said it’s important for different levels of sporting organizations to communicate with each other to prevent disciplined individuals from going “under the radar.”

“The lack of alignment is probably the biggest weakness in the system right now,” she told CBC News. “There are pockets of people doing the right thing, but not necessarily communicating with each other.”

BCLA offers ‘heartfelt apology’

In an August 2023 letter obtained by CBC News, president of the BCLA board of directors Gerry Van Beek apologized to the woman Mang assaulted. 

“Please accept this heartfelt apology on behalf of our organization for the mishandling of your complaint regarding the inappropriate behaviour and actions exhibited by coach Rick Mang,” the letter said.

“Our actions fell far short of the standards set by the Universal Code of Conduct to Prevent and Address Maltreatment in Sport and standards we set for our own organization,” it continued.

Van Beek declined interview requests from CBC News and refused to answer questions about BCLA’s handling of Mang’s disciplinary decision, citing the court-ordered publication ban on the player’s name. 

Speaking with CBC News, the woman said she hopes other athletes never have to experience what she did. 

“I hope the BCLA learns from how they handled my case so that no one else has to face the same challenges and treatment that they subjected me to.”