CANADA ’ S GAME
BY SCOTT TAYLOR Photos by James Carey Lauder
Players from the Red River Lacrosse Association : Back row from left : Hudson DeLaRonde , Sidewinders ; Riley Winzoski , Falcons ; Kaitlynn Anderson , Gryphons ; Aidan Einarsson , Wizards ; Cole Kennedy , Shamrocks . Front row kneeling from left : Max Ojala , Wizards and Ethan Fontaine , Ojibway Nationals
For Richard DeLaRonde , the assistant coach of Manitoba ’ s National B-Side Champion Pee Wee lacrosse team , Canada ’ s game is in his blood .
Not only did he play lacrosse while growing up in Thompson , but he now has five kids who either played the game or still play – 18-year-old daughter Kyra played until novice ; 13-year-old twins Alexander and Seth played on Manitoba ’ s National B-Side Pee Wee champions two years ago ; while 11-yearold son Parker played on this past year ’ s national championship squad ; and nine-year-old Hudson is also a player .
“ And every one played hockey ,” he said proudly . “ All my boys still play hockey while my daughter played high school hockey right up until she graduated last year . For them , playing both lacrosse and hockey makes sense .”
This year , DeLaRonde will be the head coach of Team Manitoba ’ s highly-successful Pee Wee lacrosse team , but right now he ’ s a hockey dad spending much of his time driving to his kids ’ games . However , he clearly sees the importance of playing both hockey and lacrosse .
“ Getting involved in lacrosse is fairly simple ,” he said . “ We have a short season for most players from April to June . For those who want to play at the provincial level , it can go on until August , but I ’ ve always believed it ’ s a great complementary sport to hockey .
“ It definitely helps players with their hand-eye co-ordination and it ’ s a physical game so the body positioning is very much the same as it is in hockey . And , of course , we play box lacrosse in the same rinks as hockey so the surroundings are very familiar to any hockey player in the region . My kids play lacrosse in the same rinks that they use for hockey .”
Make no mistake , box lacrosse is Canada ’ s game . In
REGULAR SEASON EDITION 2018 | GAME ON | 117