Sixteen-year-old Liam Miller proved this week he can stand up to the punishment of grown men shooting lacrosse balls at him with all their might and still backstop his team to victory.
This weekend at Kin 1 he'll get his chance to try to do the same thing against players close to his own age when he makes his debut in goal with the Prince George Posse in the newly-formed three-team Cariboo Central Interior Intermediate Lacrosse League (CCIILL).
The Posse are scheduled to face the Mackenzie Spartans today at 8 p.m., following a 2 p.m. game between the Spartans and the Quesnel Wildfire. On Sunday, the Posse and Wildfire clash at 11 a.m., also at Kin 1.
Miller is among several players in the intermediate league drawing double-duty in the Prince George Senior Lacrosse Association. On Wednesday, Miller stole the show, backstopping the BX Pub Bandits to victory over the Northland Nissan Assault.
"Liam stopped 51 shots in an 11-10 overtime win and he showed he's a force to be reckoned with," said CCIILL commissioner Moose Scott. "He was still in top form when the player-short Bandits were playing the Westwood Pub Devils [Thursday] and if it hadn't been for him the score [a 17-3 Bandits loss] would have been a lot higher.
"The intermediate league was formed to get these players aged 17-18 honing their skills and become the future of senior lacrosse."
Posse head coach Scott Anderson has had his troops practicing the past couple months and has 14 players to work with, but says he could use three or four more, knowing Mackenzie and Quesnel will likely have 18-player lineups this weekend.
"It's an unknown thing right now, we haven't had any games and it's been sparse at practice but it seems like it's coming together," said Anderson. "I've seen a few of the kids playing in the senior league and they look like they like to play the game. It seems like all the pieces of the puzzle are coming together."
Anderson hasn't seen the Mackenzie players in action, but based on reputation he knows the Spartans will be a hardworking group. Quesnel has picked up players from the Williams Lake intermediate team which was unable to commit to the new league and folded before it began. The Wildfire joined forces with the senior Quesnel Crossfire to pound the Bandits in a convincing 20-5 PGSLA win on April 24.
"I would guess Quesnel is probably the team to beat but I don't know anything about Mackenzie," said Anderson. "I think we'll be right in there."
The other member of the Posse are: goalie Keith Bizicki, Walker Kelly, Mitch Schultz, Lorn Boulanger, Ben Walls, Jason Yee, Parker Kerkof, Trevor Clark, Brandin Daychief, Andrew Sivell, Braeden Lalonde, Drydon Barlow and Olin Erricson.
Erricson, 18, who played last season for the intermediate B Fraser Valley Stealth, still has four games to serve of a suspension for various altercations last year in the B.C. Intermediate Lacrosse League playoffs.
The three teams each play a 10-game schedule leading up to playoffs, July 12-13. The league champion will advance to the intermediate B provincial championship in Richmond, Aug. 1-4.
