While they received no gold for, say, teeth fillings, the Tri-City Bandits were still all smiles after settling for silver Saturday at the 2009 Presidents Cup Sr. ‘B’ national lacrosse tournament in Hagersville, Ont.

“We’re way more than pleased,” said Bandits head coach Rick Mang, whose roster-depleted team fell 11-5 to the wily Owen Sound Woodsmen in the gold-medal match at the seven-team tournament, hosted by the Six Nations Sting. “We gave it a good go but they were just too good.”

After stunning the Niagara Hawks 6-5 in double overtime in Friday’s semifinals, the gritty Bandits were swamped early by the Woodsmen, who raced to a 6-2 first-period lead and never relented.

Scoring in the final for Tri-City were game Greg Martinez, Travis St. German, Jameson Whitehead, Charlie Girdler and Jarrett Dorman, the West Coast Sr. ‘B’ league regular-season scoring champion who flew in just for the championship game after work commitments prevented him from competing in the Bandits’ other five tournament games.

Rick Hansford was chosen game MVP for the Bandits, who qualified for the semis via tie-breaker goal differential despite a 1-3 record in round-robin pool play. In the semis, Ian Carlson, Justin Hawksbee, Blair Poy, James Abbott, Girdler and game MVP Martinez tallied for the Bandits.

, who scored six seconds into the second sudden-death overtime period to pull out the win.

Mang said merely making the final was a marvel for the Bandits, who dressed only 15 players for most of the tourney, including just two lefthanders.

“Given the situation, it was like we won the gold,” Mang said.

Girdler and goalie Matt Soulliere were chosen to the tournament’s first all-star team, while Burnaby pick-up Justin Thomas was named to the second glitter squad representing Tri-City.

Next year’s Presidents Cup is set to be hosted by the Burnaby Burrards.