Busy might be the understatement of the century when it comes to the Weyburn Lacrosse Association lately. Lacrosse players from the Opportunity City have been all over the country testing their skills against the best in Canada’s national game. Brittany Stepp, social media marketing director with the Weyburn Lacrosse Association, talks about the Weyburn players who’ve been in action over the last couple weeks.
“It's been pretty exciting actually. So, I'll start with the Canada Summer Games. It happens every four years, I believe. So, we sent our girls team first. The U17 girls were out there from August 9th to 15th playing games. They had quite the week there after some unusual circumstances due to wildfires. They had to change their venue (with) very short notice and it was quite the wild ride for them trying to figure out everything and make sure everybody was safe and everybody was able to play their game safely, but unfortunately there was a shorthanded game format which hurt their chances to break a tie to be first in the round robin in their pool. After it was all said and done, (Team) Saskatchewan came away with a 4-2-1 record.”
This was a huge success for Team Saskatchewan as a result, they graduated from 9th place to 7th place in national rankings for the next Canada Summer Games. Three players from the Weyburn area participated for Team Sask, including Ella Schenher who was top 3 in team scoring, Hunter Moon, and Maci Patterson. Also, Weyburn’s Amber Moon served as team manager and Jessica Benning was the assistant coach.
On the men’s side, the U17 team is starting their journey in the Canada Summer Games in St. John’s NL, featuring two Weyburn products in runner Alex Lebrecque and goaltender Quentin Stinson. The first game for Team Sask will take place today at 11:30 A.M. SK time when they take on Prince Edward Island. That’s just a portion of the action, as more Weyburn representation took place on the East Coast in Box Lacrosse. In Halifax, NS, three teams took to the turf in U13 and U15 girls as well as U13 co-ed. Stepp comments on their time out in Nova Scotia.
“So, from the U13 female team there was Bree Tuchscherer, Ryder Moon, Joey Arneson, Braelyn Law, and Tayja Pehl. Head coach was Randy Labrecque and our two assistant coaches on the team also came from Weyburn. They were Callie Dammann and Chloe Tuchscherer. So, this team, while they may not have had very much success on the scoreboard, they actually had a huge success with their players. Ryder Moon came out of the tournament with three goals and was ranked 17th in the tournament among all the girls in that division and with this, Ryder was awarded the team All-Star Award for the U13 females for Team Sask"
"The U15 girls, represented from Weyburn was Julie Lebrecque and Paycen Babiarz, as well as team manager Stacey Lebrecque. This team faced some of their hardest competition and came up short all tournament, but (Julie) Labrecque came home with two goals. The U13 (boys) team sent 3 representatives as well. On that team were Cohen Baumgartner, Felix Wawro, and Simon Wawro. Colin came home with three goals under his name and Simon scored one.”
Weyburn lacrosse players will continue to travel this summer as this upcoming weekend is the Junior Rush program in Oakville, ON. From the U17 division will be Andrew Charlton, Hudson Maloney, and Leo Missal and from the U15 division will be Ryder Stepp. They will take on teams from both Canada and the U.S. from Friday, August 22nd to Sunday, August 24th. Finally, the U17 Team Sask lacrosse team featuring Alex Lebrecque, Andrew Charlton, Hudson Maloney, and Leo Missal will battle it out in Halifax, NS over the Labour Day weekend from Friday, August 29th to Sunday, September 1st.
For more information about the Weyburn Lacrosse Association and the lacrosse events taking place, visit their website at www.weyburnthrashers.ca and follow the Weyburn Lacrosse Association’s Facebook page.