Ray Masson spent three hours in the emergency ward on Sunday night.
The 60-year-old was there because of a lacrosse injury.
As Masson was waiting for a doctor to burn two holes through one of the fingernails on his left hand to relieve the pressure of the blood built up underneath, he was thinking to himself, 'Do I really want to be playing lacrosse at my age?'
More importantly, he was hoping to be all fixed up and ready for another game on Monday.
This Prince George Senior Lacrosse Association season, Masson has been tending goal for the Twisted Cork/Regional Security Stylers. He's playing on a regular basis for the first time since about 1977, when he was the stopper for the Labatt's Blues of the old North Central Lacrosse Association.
Masson, old enough to be the grandfather of some of his current teammates and opponents, is loving every second of his return to the crease. He has received the bulk of the playing time with the Stylers and has a 4-1 record with them so far.
"I thought maybe I'd be sitting on the bench and I might get a game or two during the season and I'd be happy, but I've been playing pretty regularly and I've been super happy," Masson said. "It's just so good to get back between the pipes and relive my youth. Not many people get the chance to have that dream."
Masson had been playing lacrosse at the masters level in recent seasons, but only in one tournament per year, the B.C. masters championship. He wanted to gear up more often and, for some time, had been informing PGSLA teams of his desire to get in the game.
The Stylers finally gave him a call because their regular goalie, 18-year-old Kyle Wilson, wasn't going to be available for duty on many nights. Masson giddily jumped into the lineup and has become the talk of the league.
And make no mistake, the Stylers are thrilled to have him.
"We got him out of pure luck, actually, because [Wilson] couldn't make a lot of games because he's graduating this year," said Stylers general manager Bart Hobson. "For us, Ray's been great. You can't ask for a better guy to come out. He plays a full game, no qualms, and puts in 110 per cent effort. He's amazing for coming back and playing at his age. There are guys down south that played with him, that are playing masters and found out he was playing senior, and just couldn't believe it."
Here's the kicker.
When Masson got injured on the weekend, he wasn't even playing for the Stylers and he wasn't playing in Prince George. The Stylers had loaned him to the College Heights Pub Assault, who had a doubleheader in Mackenzie against the LumberJax.
Masson made the trip to Mackenzie, where he backstopped the Assault to a pair of wins. He picked up the victories, even though he was hurt in the second period of the first game while making a glove-hand save. In the second game, he took a shot off the same finger.
"I got hit Saturday night and it was really, really painful and then [Sunday] I got hit again and I was on my knees writhing in pain," he said with a chuckle. "Oh my God, it was horrible."
On Monday night, the Stylers clashed with the BX Pub Bandits at the Coliseum and lost 22-16. Masson, nursing his wounded hand, served as Wilson's backup.
Masson, by the way, isn't married and has no children so lacrosse and general involvement in sports fits easily into his life. He's a retired teacher who has spent decades as a high school volleyball coach and official.
Masson's re-entry into senior lacrosse has PGSLA commissioner Glen Scott smiling and doing a little reminiscing. Coincidentally, Scott and Masson were teammates on the Labatt's Blues.
"Russ Logan and I were part of the defensive corps that played in front of Ray so it brings back a lot of great memories when I see him in between the pipes," Scott said. "Here he is playing in our league in the 22nd year and as league commissioner and president I think it's fantastic."
Masson, as one might expect, is still very fit. And while he's not the same goalie he was years ago, he's finding that some of the tricks of his trade are coming back to him.
"I do get lit up on occasion because my reflexes are not what they were, and they've added six inches to the goal since I last played so there's a double whammy there, but I'm slowly getting better," he said with a laugh. "I guess it takes a while to knock 30 years of rust off. I'm slowly starting to make some progress back toward being a goaltender again."
In the PGSLA, Masson is playing with and against some of his former students. He said the youngsters have treated him with respect.
Well, mostly.
"I did take one shoulder in the back and I heard his teammates call out from the bench, 'That wasn't hard enough!'" Masson said. "It was one of the Assault kids and we had a good laugh about it in the dressing room this weekend."
Masson turns 61 on June 2.
"As long as the body holds out, I'm there."
