That line doesn’t seem like much of a lead-in to a sports column, but in this case it is a rather significant statement.
Up until the start of the current National Lacrosse League season Beers has patrolled the defensive zone of the Vancouver Warriors and its previous incarnations. Beers was drafted 13th overall by the Washington Stealth and earned a spot on the NLL’s All-Rookie Team in 2010. He has spent his entire career with the Stealth franchise which moved to Vancouver in 2014 and ultimately became the Warriors in 2019. Beers was part of the 2010 NLL championship squad in Washington. He also appeared in two more NLL title games with the Stealth in 2011 and 2013.
Beers was named captain of the Stealth heading into the 2017 season.
So his moving to the Saskatchewan franchise was a rather major off season acquisition for the Rush.
“It was a life-changing decision for me and my family,” said Beers in a recent interview with this reporter.
Beers said his time with the Warriors/Stealth was great, with outstanding teammates and coaches and a fine organization, but he finally came to the decision it was time for a change, and that was where the Rush stepped in.
Part of the desire to finally move on revolved around recent hard times in terms of wins in Vancouver, although the team started this season with two straight wins.
At 32, Beers admitted he was looking to go somewhere he can make another serious run at a league championship.
“I was looking to be able to win in the next year, or two,” he said, adding the Rush are a team built for success.
At the time of inking the two-year deal Saskatchewan Rush General Manager Derek Keenan was quoted saying the team doesn’t pursue many free agents outside trying to retain their own, but in Beers they got a veteran who is among the best in the league at his position.
Beers, who is 6-foot-3, 205-pounds had played in 157 career regular-season games leading into this season, totaling 107 points, 843 loose balls, 173 caused turnovers and amassing 533 penalty minutes.
Prior to turning pro, Beers played with the Coquitlam Adanacs in the British Columbia Junior ‘A’ League. He was the league’s Defender of the Year in 2010 and captained that squad to the Minto Cup national championship.
Those are numbers and pedigrees that make him a good fit for the Veteran Rush who never exactly rebuilds as much as they tinker and re-tool a little to stay in the championship hunt.
That veteran core helped Beers choose the Rush.
“It made the transition easy for me,” he said.
Beers remains in B.C. between games, where he is a firefighter, so he flies into games with the Rush.
Interestingly the fly-in approach is proving to give Beers more family time than when he was with the Warriors, where as Captain he was doing a lot of community outreach.
“I was doing things in the community,” he said, adding now he is able to spend extra time with family, which is another positive of the move.
As fate would have it, three games into the new season with his new team, Beers was back in Vancouver facing his own team.
So was the game on Beers’ mind?
He suggested it really wasn’t until media kept asking him about it before the Dec. 17, encounter.
“That got me thinking about it and that maybe I am a little bit nervous,” he said, adding as he hit the floor in Vancouver “there were a few butterflies leading up to the start.”
Those butterflies were gone once the game started, and what followed was a nail biter, with the Rush finally squeaking out their first win of the season 10-9.
Beers said he was satisfied with the game.
“I felt I had a good game. We had a good game as a team,” he said.
The Rush have been in close contests in all three games to start the season, losing 12-11 in overtime in their season opener in Halifax and then dropping an 11-10 decision to Calgary in Saskatchewan’s home opener.
“We played three great games,” said Beers, adding “some bounces haven’t gone our way,” or the Rush could well have won all three not just the game in Vancouver.
Beers said the Rush might have only one win so far, but he suggested better things are ahead this season.
“I love this group’s chances going forward,” he offered, adding it’s just a matter of the new pieces – players such as Dan Lintner over from Rochester and Josh Currier from Philadelphia and Mike Mallory from Vancouver – meshing with Rush vets such as Mark Matthews, Robert Church and Jeff Shatter.
“It’s going to come. When it does it will be something to watch.”
