Blake McIntosh should be on a frequent driver program.
As co-coach of the Prince George midget Posse lacrosse team and the likely head coach of the peewee Posse as well, he should be collecting rewards points for all the time he spends driving kids to lacrosse tournaments in B.C. and Alberta.
Last year as coach of the bantam A2 Posse he put more than 10,000 kilometres on his truck, all in the name of lacrosse, and this year his travel schedule isn't going to be much easier, especially if he has two rep teams to look after.
For the past few months, however, McIntosh has been focusing on his midget team, a duty he shares with co-coach Don Wittmeier. Predominantly made up of first-year midgets, the Posse has a core of 15- and 16-year-olds who have played the game together since they were seven- and eight-year-old tykes.
That group includes Dawson Ellery, Cameron Prouse, Jake McIntosh , Griffin Wall, Skylar Roy, Douglas Porter, and goalie Jonathan Wittmeier. Andrew Heitman, who broke his arm in the second tournament last season, is back to health. Last year they competed in the A2 provincial championship in Delta and finished with a 1-2 record.
The Posse has three second-year midgets -- Jared Stevens, Steven Kidwell and Serafina Sia -- who shared in a silver medal win last year at the midget B provincial championship.
With fewer than 30 midgets registered in the city, the Posse can compete provincially at the B level but might choose to move up to the A2 level once they see how they stack up against A2 teams this spring.
"Obviously A2 would be the preferable level so they can experience good competition and become better players," said McIntosh. "The higher the level we can play, the better it is for the kids when they go to intermediate and junior. We may not be as successful as we can be because the powerhouses of the Lower Mainland are always tough."
The Great White North league starts in early May and the Posse will be on the road this spring for weekend games in Mackenzie, Quesnel and Williams Lake as well as hosting all three teams. Rep team tryouts started last week at the Kin Centre and heading into that week, just 19 midget-aged players had registered to play house league lacrosse.
The sheer numbers of minor lacrosse players in Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island puts teams from northern B.C. at a competitive disadvantage in provincial championships. But northern teams like last year's midget B Posse still find ways to win. Quesnel won the midget C provincial title last year and captured silver in the bantam C division, while the Vanderhoof Bears brought home bronze from the peewee C provincials.
The midget Posse plans to travel to the Okanagan twice and the Lower Mainland once for tournaments, leading up to the midget provincial championship in Campbell River, July 23-27.
McIntosh says he might have to lean on Wittmeier to take on more of the midget workload so he can devote more of his energy to the peewee Posse, a group of 11- and 12-year-olds that includes McIntosh's son Konnor.
"I might have to miss a tournament here and there but I'll try to do both," said McIntosh, whose wife Laurie serves on the Prince George Minor Lacrosse Association executive. "If I'm going to be there traveling with them I might as well coach. The problem is there are never tournaments for both age groups in the same city on the same weekend."
As if his coaching schedule wasn't busy enough, McIntosh, 41, plans to get more active as a player in the Prince George Senior Lacrosse Association with the Westwood Pub Devils. He joined the original Devils team as a teenager when the league formed in 1991 and was the league MVP and scoring champion in 2003, but has played only sporadically the past few seasons.
