Saskatchewan will be sending two provincial field lacrosse teams west in search of medals on the upcoming Labor Day weekend.
Yorkton and area will be represented on both squads.
Joe Laprairie of Regina is the head coach of the 15U team, with Yorkton鈥檚 Adam Stewart one of the assistants.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the second year of this coaching staff at Nationals,鈥� said Laprairie.
Last year the Saskatchewan team was what Laprairie called a developmental one, but also one that did quite well.
鈥淲e just finished outside of playing for bronze,鈥� he said, noting they finished fifth.
This year the field is down to five teams, and Laprairie said they are hoping to be in the medal mix.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping to finish better,鈥� he said, although he added Ontario, and host British Columbia are 鈥渉eavy favourites as always,鈥� to be on top of the heap.
The 23-member 15U team includes players from across the region, including Logan Halarewich of Melville, Toby Olynyk of Buchanan and Tomas Hauber of Canora, and Colby Johnson of Stockholm.
From Yorkton Bennett Upshall is a returnee to the team from 2017, and will wear one of the Captain鈥檚 鈥楢s鈥�.
Joshua Johnson of Yorkton is one of the team鈥檚 goaltenders, and Ashton Schuster and Daxton Kulcsar are at attack.
The 18U team is being coached by Prince Albert鈥檚 Javan Bexon. Like Laprairie, Bexon is hoping for better things in Kelowna.
鈥淟ast year we lost in the bronze medal game to Quebec,鈥� he said.
This year he hopes to bring home medals, with only four teams taking part a medal round berth in assured, and again B.C. and Ontario are heavily favoured to meet for gold. So Bexon has his sights set on winning bronze.
鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping to come out with a medal this year,鈥� he said.
Bexon said the team certainly looks stronger headed west.
鈥淟ast year we didn鈥檛 have a whole lot of kids try-out for the team,鈥� he said, adding this year numbers 鈥渜uadrupled.鈥�
As a result the team is stronger.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got a good group of kids,鈥� he said, adding across the province field lacrosse has stabilized as a program with numbers starting to grow.
Jarvis Zawatsky of Yorkton, Seth Rayner of Stenen, Carter Masley of Sturgis, and William Hauber of Canora are the local area players on the team.
