Lacrosse in Okotoks last weekend wasn’t confined to just Centennial Arena, as young athletes from Edmonton to Saskatoon descended upon the foothills for the tri-provincial field lacrosse tournament.
The Okotoks Mustangs held their inaugural provincials in field lacrosse at Riverside Park, Aug. 26-28, a tournament involving 16 teams from Alberta and Saskatchewan in four age brackets.
In the Midget division, Calgary defeated Okotoks 13-6 to capture the gold. The Saskatoon Stingers beat the Mustangs 15-8 in the Bantam division gold medal match. At the Peewee level, Calgary took home the gold with the Okotoks squad settling for fourth place. And in Novice play, Calgary won the gold medal game over Edmonton, while the Mustangs finished with the bronze.
President of the Okotoks Lacrosse Association Clint Bymak said the tournament was purposefully scheduled to go along with the Minto Cup, the Junior lacrosse championship, and the Masters provincials, in an effort to bring more focus on the sport.
“It was kind of last minute with all the volunteers that we’ve had working with the Minto we weren’t sure how it would work,” Bymak said. “But you know it worked out pretty successfully so we’re looking forward to hopefully hosting again.”
Tournament chairwoman Courtney Hamm said hosting the tournament was successful, despite the fact it was a first-time effort.
Hamm said she received positive feedback from representatives of the teams that made the trek to the foothills.
“One fellow from Edmonton thanked us and said we did a great job with the organization and said they’d come back if we hosted again,” she said.
Now that she’s gone through the process of organizing the tri-provincial tournament, Hamm said she would host the tournament for a second time.
With organized field lacrosse in Okotoks in just its second year of existence, Bymak said it was great to already host a tournament of this nature.
He said the goal of hosting the provincials was to familiarize the athletes with the outdoor sport.
“We’re just building on getting these kids playing together more, getting to know the field game,” he said. “We’re going to be getting to be travelling to the States in the winter and we’re just trying to build a good, competitive team to go down there.”
