The Moose is not out of the woods yet, but he's well on his way to returning to his natural habitat.
That means it's only a matter of time before Glen 'Moose' Scott is back on his feet on familiar turf promoting his passion for lacrosse at the Kin Centre arenas and driving up corporate sales for the community-owned Prince George Spruce Kings junior hockey team.
For nearly three months, Scott has been confined to a hospital bed at UHNBC with a blood infection which stemmed from a back injury sustained in a fall on ice. The infection spread to his bones and vital organs and his condition became life-threatening, but it appears the worst is now behind him.
While he has been unable to fulfill his usual duties as president and commissioner of the Prince George Senior Lacrosse Association, Scott is relieved to have had members of his inner circle step up in his absence to keep the league afloat. That's made it possible for Prince George to host the five-team Treasure Cove Casino provincial senior invitational lacrosse tournament, which starts this afternoon at Kin 1.
"It's tearing my guts out I can't be there, but the main thing is the tournament is continuing and I think it's going to be a crackerjack tournament," said Scott, from his hospital bed.
"I'd love to get out on a day pass and get to see each of the games."
Scott co-founded the tournament with Ron Edgar in 1999 as the Alcan Cup Canadian Senior Invitational and this will be the first year he's had to miss it. Treasure Cove took over as the sponsor four years ago. The tournament also serves as the provincial senior C championship.
Scott knows the tournament is in capable hands and appreciates the efforts of all who have taken up the slack in his absence. Terry Foulds has taken over as chief organizer of the tournament, with help from Gary Frederick, Gordon Foulds, Bonnie-Jean Foulds and Scott's wife, Patricia. They've all worked together to run the PGSLA.
"Lacrosse is very near and dear to my heart and to just chuck it out because one guy is in the hospital, you can't do that," said Scott. "I get a huge wonderful feeling when I can see that lacrosse still continues. The players are getting better, the calibre keeps getting higher and teams that are downtrodden have rebounded with smart drafting and some trades."
The PGSLA-champion Westwood Pub Devils headed by manager/coach Chris Scott (Glen and Patricia's son) are a classic example, climbing from worst to first in only one season.
Scott is in good spirits and hopes to be going home in two or three weeks, once he's able to stand on his feet again. He plans to be a fixture this season again at Spruce Kings games at the Coliseum, where he serves as one of the team's office assistants in sales and marketing.
"Physically, I'm feeling a lot better but I still have to do rehab and 10 times a day I'm doing exercises to get stronger," he said. "While it pains me to not be at the tournament, one of the things that's really helped me mentally is I've been actively involved with it by phone, so I know exactly what's going on. That passes the time a lot quicker and is a good part of my rehab."
