When the first junior version of the Calgary Roughnecks face off against clubs from across the continent in a national tournament next week, Central Alberta will be represented by an Olds High School student.
Marshall Bloomfield, of Bowden, is heading to Oakville, Ont. to play with a select midget team in the National Lacrosse League's junior tournament, which will kick off on Aug. 25.
All nine NLL clubs ñ five American and four Canadian, including the Calgary Roughnecks ñ will field junior teams at the peewee, bantam and midget age levels for the fifth annual tournament. In addition, two guest teams from Edmonton and Philadelphia will join the competition.
This is the first time the Calgary lacrosse franchise will field a junior team for the tournament. It held open tryouts to fill the roster, pulling in players from Calgary and beyond.
Last week, the three Calgary teams were "white hatted" in official cowtown tradition, each player receiving a white cowboy hat from the Calgary fire chief.
"A white hat is special in Calgary," he said, "because we're going to a different province to represent Calgary."
Bloomfield, who lives in Bowden, played five years for the Olds minor lacrosse association before moving up to play Midget A with the Red Deer Chiefs over the past two seasons. He has also been an underage call-up with the Olds Mavericks for the past two seasons, winning provincial gold with them last year.
"I love it," said Bloomfield's mother, Pamala Church. "I love that Marsh keeps trying, and he's made the ëA' teams, and he's made this team."
"When you're playing in a small town it's hard to play big-city lacrosse and make teams like this," said Church. "(I want to) encourage the kids in Olds to keep trying ñ it's totally possible to make these teams and do these things."
The tournament will be played according to modified NLL rules, different from those of Alberta leagues. This includes an eight-second time limit to get the ball across the midfield each time possession changes.
"It makes the game quicker, because you've got to get the ball up the floor faster," said Bloomfield.
Bloomfield said the ad hoc team is practising overtime to get used to the rules, but also to each other ñ while they've never played together, he knows most of the team from playing against them.
"We've had lots of practices, because we want to form our team together, because none of us have played together before," said Bloomfield. "It's kind of weird, because you play people, and you don't like them, and then you go to this, and you kinda have to like them ñ you're on a team together."
For Bloomfield, who hopes to eventually go on and play lacrosse in university, this is the first high-level national tournament of which he's been a part.
"This is going to be a totally different level," he said. "It is different, because this is the best of the best from here to past Calgary ñ it's all really intense."
"We will play in an NLL building, where the Toronto Rock play," he added. "It's going to be like, as if it's the Saddledome, but in Toronto."
"This is going to be a totally different level. It is different, because this is the best of the best from here to past Calgary ñ it's all really intense."MARSHALL BLOOMFIELD
