Mike Blondin and Wes Black are at opposite ends of the lacrosse experience scale.
Blondin grew up playing the game, which led to a position with the junior A lacrosse Delta Islanders. Black, on the other hand, was a late-bloomer who picked up a lacrosse stick for the first time last season.
Now teammates on the BX Pub Bandits of the Prince George Senior Lacrosse Association, Blondin and Black share a common goal -- to use lacrosse as a springboard to prepare them for junior football.
Blondin, 21, is heading to Alberta to play this fall for the Edmonton Huskies of the Prairie Football Conference, the next step on his way to the CIS with the University of Alberta.
"After my two years of junior lacrosse I realized I should have played football coming out of high school," said Blondin, a College Heights secondary school graduate. "I got recruited for lacrosse down south so I went with that. It was a good experience, but I realized there's not a lot of funding in lacrosse and it's harder to make it as a kid from P.G.
"Football has a better network of support because once you play junior you can go to the universities and play."
Blondin joined the Bandits last summer after a half-season with Delta and helped them win the PGSLA title.
"I could have stuck around Delta longer but I wasn't doing as well as I wanted to be doing and I realize now that as much of a good experience it was, it cost me a lot of money to be there and it was really tough to make it," Blondin said. "I grew up playing with [Bandits veterans] Drew Doig and Damon Calfa and I love lacrosse, so I relish the opportunity to play a half-season before I take off."
With two years of eligibility left, he sees the junior football ranks as an ideal training ground to keep up his skills as a receiver. He's remained involved in football as an assistant coach at College Heights and in the Prince George Minor Football Association.
Black, 19, first made his mark as an athlete in rugby and wrestling and went on to star in football with the Kelly Road Roadrunners as a hard-hitting safety. He's still learning the rules of lacrosse but he's already an expert in the physical aspects of the game. Just ask any of the opponents who have felt the sting of his hits.
"Lacrosse is fun, I still don't know all the rules," said the five-foot-eight, 260-pound Black. "I'm a powerlifter right now, so this is good for me to get some cardio [training] in. I'm a very aggressive person and lacrosse is an awesome sport. Last year I couldn't move my stick to save my life and now I can cradle the ball decently."
Black, who as a 15-year-old played rugby for Canada's under-18 team, also keeps up his wrestling skills, practicing at D.P. Todd twice a week. He's currently finishing his high school courses, with plans to go to university next year. He's already been offered a wrestling scholarship at the University of Regina.
Black played junior football last year as a fullback with the Vancouver Island Raiders, helping the team win its fifth-straight B.C. Football Conference title and a second-place national finish. He didn't get a lot of playing time in his rookie season, and found it difficult to find work in Nanaimo, so has decided this season to move to Kamloops to play for the junior Cowboys.
Black is looking forward to Saturday, July 23, when the Cowboys come to Masich Place Stadium to play a BCJFC exhibition game against either the Raiders or Chilliwack Huskers. There's a chance that could lead to Prince George getting its own junior team.
"We'll get to come up here and everyone will get to watch me play and I'm excited," said Black. "If we get a junior team, I'll be moving back to play here."
