Darryl Brizan knows Prince George has a long history of developing players who know how to pick the eye out of a snake with a lacrosse shot.
Even after they're past their prime.
He's forming the Prince George 59ers team to play in the Centurion (55-and-over) Division at a Western Canadian masters championships in Armstrong, July 1-3, and he's hoping some of the senior lacrosse stars of yesterday will be willing to show they still love to play Canada's national summer sport.
Brizan, who sits on the executive of the Prince George Masters Lacrosse Association, is recruiting players for the 59ers and is also rounding up talent for the Ken Goss RE/MAX grandmasters (45-and-over) team. They got their name because that was the average age of their grandmasters team last year.
"This year, because we're entering two teams now and we've kind of spilt the ages, we're looking for more players for the tournament this year," said Brizan, 57.
"The Centurion Division is a new division they've started this year, so some of our players who would have played grandmasters are playing centurion."
Brizan was a regular on lacrosse teams in the city from 1973-1988. He wanted his brother Tony, a lacrosse goalie who now lives at Pender Harbour, to join the 59ers team but says he hurt his leg playing as a runner in a masters game and he's doubtful for the Armstrong tournament.
The 59ers will be solid in goal with Ray Masson on the team. At 62, Masson still plays regularly for the Cowboy Ranch Stylers of the Prince George Senior Lacrosse Association, facing players half his age. They've also got Rick Baines of Victoria joining them in Armstrong. Baines used to play senior A for the Victoria Shamrocks.
Masson and Brizan both played in the first lacrosse oldtimers tournament ever held in the province and it was played in Prince George in 1988. Brizan was still junior-aged at the time and he hooked with the Vernon Lodge Tigers, who won the tournament. Masson played for the Canada Hotel Prince George team, which included the likes of Neil McIntosh, George Prince, Butch Stewart, Dave Jenkins, Jim, Joe and Al Motishaw, Bob Ormond, Bill "Woody" Woodcock, Danny and Ray Weatherly, John Wagner, Benny Chow and Vern Norbraten.
Masters rules prohibit bodychecking and there's a wild-shot rule. If a player takes a shot that doesn't hit the net of the goalie and instead hits an opposing player, a two-minute penalty will result. Players are not allowed to wear pads coated with hard material, to try to prevent injuries.
"It's a different game," said Brizan. "In the past, big players could plow people over but in the masters and grandmasters divisions smaller players can just sneak around. There are quite a few small players now in the Prince George senior league and in a few years they'll be good masters players."
Brizan is hoping some of those oldtimers will come out of the woodwork and is assembling the players on Sunday at 1 p.m. for a practice session at the Southridge outdoor arena on Southridge Avenue at O'Grady Road. He can be reached at 250-961-5208 or through email at [email protected].
