It wasn't so long ago that Daniel Wenham had no plans to tend goal in the Prairie Gold Lacrosse League.The Estevan Big Dogs are just glad he changed his mind.Originally called on as in injury fill-in for Kevin Wilson, Wenham was in net for two of the junior team's three games this past week, including a 5-2 win Saturday over the Assiniboia Attack and a 10-4 loss Sunday to the Moose Jaw Mustangs.Both games were played at the Lignite Miners Centre."They needed someone to play. I didn't have any idea what I was doing but I loaded up my gear anyway, went to Moose Jaw, and ended up liking it," Wenham said of his PGLL debut, a 9-3 loss to the hometown Mustangs on May 1.Wenham may have had a little more of an idea what he was doing than he let on, thanks to his years on the ice as a hockey goalie (he shared the starting duties in 2009-10 for the Estevan Apex Bruins midget AA team), and the proof seems to be in the numbers.He has a 2-2 record through five appearances with a 6.76 goals-against average, second among goalies on the five teams currently occupying Tier 2 playoff spots."He's been playing fantastic," said Big Dogs head coach Evan Handley. "Wenham played outstanding against Assiniboia on Saturday and he had another really good game Sunday against Moose Jaw. For a first-year lacrosse goalie he plays very well and his game is improving all the time."The win Saturday was the second of the season for the Big Dogs (2-4), both of which have come against Assiniboia with Wenham in net.But it was the first win of the year, a 7-3 road win May 15, that really let Wenham know he had arrived.For that effort he was announced June 1 as the PGLL's goaltender of the week, for the period from May 10-23. The award made him the first Big Dog in the franchise's three-year history to win one of the league's weekly honours."I was actually quite surprised about it I thought I'd played alright," said Wenham.Sunday's loss was the Big Dogs' third game in three nights. Friday they dropped a 12-3 decision on the road to the Yorkton Bulldogs.Marshall Holzer had three goals and three assists to lead the Big Dogs offensively in the three-game set."It's definitely a little bit harder than we're used to," said Wenham. "We're used to playing a game every week-and-a-half or so, so we definitely noticed we lacked some gas coming into the third game."Estevan travels to Regina to face the hometown Riot tonight, and will play its final home games of the regular season June 19 and 20 against the Saskatoon Steelers and Saskatoon Smash.
