Senior lacrosse is back.
The crunching bodychecks, slick stickhandling and rapid ball movement that makes Canada’s national summer sport so fun to watch returned to Kopar Memorial Arena Monday night for Prince George Senior Lacrosse Association season opener.
The six-time defending champion Scamp Transport Devils defeated the visiting Mackenzie Conifex Lumberjacks 12-4. Four Devil shooters — Andrew Schwab, Danton Nicholson, Jake McIntosh and Delta import Jesse Rumeo – each had five-point games.
McIntosh is back in the Devils’ fold after taking one season off, joining the likes of longtime Devils Nathanael McFadyen, Kyle Adams, Pierce Watson and Darian Long.
The teams were tied 3-3 after one period and the Devils took over the game with six straight goals to start the second period. Patrick Bayliss and Steven Brizan shared the Devils’ netminding duties and combined to preserve the win.
Former WLA veteran David Jenkins returned after a four-year hiatus and suited up for the first time with the Lumberjacks, after a long history with the Assault.
“That was a bit of a surprise for us,” said Bellamy. “He’s still good. He actually played on the defensive side of the ball instead of playing up for them but he played a bit of power play and he was moving the ball well, very physical. He was pushing guys around quite a bit. He was crashing and banging out there. Mackenzie had a good showing they put up a good fight.”
It was also a shock to Don Wittmeier, coach of the Assault, to see Jenkins playing for Mackenzie.
“That’s a sore subject,” laughed Wittmeier. “I’ve been phoning him for two years (to come back to the Assault) and it was, ‘No, I’m too busy,’ and I didn’t phone him this year and he goes to Mackenzie.”
Wittmeier has a young team that requires a full lineup to be able to compete on an even keel with the rest of the league.
"Our downfall always is we're too young and we don't have enough commitment for games," said Wittmeier. "I had eight guys for practice and four guys for practice and that's the problem with our team. There's no consistency, hopefully we'll have them for games. When you're playing squads with 20 players that's a big difference."
The Lumberjacks have some of the top young players in the league with Kyle Pacheco, Dalton Barwise, Robbie Waughtal and goalie Kael Frederick.
The PGSLA is once again a four-team league with Quesnel taking another year off to build up its finances, according to Bellamy.
That leaves the Devils, Lumberjacks, Beswick Hilldebrand Lund (BHL) Bandits and Prince George Assault in the hunt for the league championship this summer.
“There’s quite a bit of talent in the league this year so I think it’ll be pretty competitive,” said Bellamy.
The Bandits are led offensively by Drew Doig and Cole Paciejewski, with Grant Stubley, and goalie Liam Miller the backbone of the defence.
Hunter Moleski, Logan Hauk and the goalie tandem of Russill Mills and Jon Wittmeier bring a veteran presence to the Assault.
Prince George will host the BC Senior C provincial champion and Glen “Moose” Scott Invitational tournament, Aug. 8-10 at the Kin Centre. Ten teams from BC and Alberta are expected for that event.
The Devils and Bandits will clash in a repeat of last year’s championship series in the next PGSLA game Wednesday at 8 p.m.
In their first game the Assault will take on the Devils next Wednesday (May 14) at Kopar.
All four teams will play a 12-game schedule that ends June 26.
Games in Prince George during the season will be played at Kopar, then switch to Kin 1 for the playoffs.
