The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
As a hockey dominate town in the fall and winter time, Russ Dobie hopes to keep the interest of the sport by introducing box lacrosse in the summer time. "When I was eight we moved to a small town with no lacrosse and (my) Dad got tired of driving to the next town (for the sport). Dad started it in a big hockey area." With the sport picking up in his community, Dobie has since moved to Flin Flon with his family and noticing the same pattern. His nine year old son has no where to play lacrosse. So, Dobie says he hopes to introduce the sport and have it catch on. "It's a community thing like hockey," he says, noting it also compliments hockey and gives hockey players added practice in the off season. During the winter, teams and individuals use the Creighton Sportex and the Whitney Forum for hockey, public skating and figure skating. Once the summer hits, there isn't much use for the building. So, between Dobie and the Town of Creighton, an initiative is underway to get the Sportex in use for the summer months. "It just sits there in the summer months," says Dobie, noting that a bonus for using the facility is that the lacrosse games will never get rained out Ð unlike soccer or baseball. Dobie has been playing lacrosse since he was four and he hopes he can pass on the love of the sport to members of the Flin Flon, Creighton and Denare Beach area. Dobie held an information session at the Sportex recently to generate interest in the activity. Roughly 25 participants were in attendance Ð varying from children to adults. "What I see for the community over the next couple of years is a minor box lacrosse league of some sort Ð similar to minor hockey," he says. With lacrosse already in Thompson and Swan River, he says there would be competition for the local teams. Farther down the line, Dobie says he would like to see a high school team as well as an inter-provincial team between Flin Flon and Creighton Ð giving them the opportunity to travel between Saskatchewan and Manitoba for tournaments and games. And the final vision for Dobie comes with adults in the game. Having something similar to pick up hockey or soccer, he hopes to see adults interested in learning the game and playing when they get the chance. As for the information session, Dobie says there was a good response from those in attendance. "It was very positive, I thought, to see all the age groups. "Almost all who came knew someone who had an interest," says Dobie. From here, Dobie will be hosting a lacrosse clinic to see how much interest is in the area. How it's played Box lacrosse, also known as indoor lacrosse and sometimes shortened to simply box, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America, stated Wikipedia. The game originated in Canada, where it is the most popular version of the game played, from the traditional field lacrosse game. It is played between two teams of six players each, and is traditionally played on an ice hockey rink once the ice has been removed or covered. The website states that the playing area is called a box, in contrast to the open playing field of field lacrosse. The object of the game is to use a long handled racket, known as a lacrosse stick, to catch, carry, and pass the ball in an effort to score by ultimately hurling a solid rubber lacrosse ball into an opponent's goal.
