By Jeff D'Andrea

Humble beginnings for the Outlaws in long awaited debut

Apr 21, 2017 | 10:48 PM

“I’ve been waiting 17 years for this.”

Those were the words Saskatchewan Lacrosse Association president and Shawn Williams said leaning against the Steuart Arena glass on Friday, moments before the first ever senior lacrosse league game commenced in Prince Albert.

After failed attempts and commitments that fell short in the better part of the last two decades, it was an accomplishment in itself for the Prince Albert Outlaws to finally field a full team in a competitive setting—even if their first game was a humble beginning in a 19-4 loss to the Saskatoon Brewers.

“It is very rewarding, actually, to be out there and playing,” Outlaws player-coach Lawrence Holizki said. “Especially for myself, I’ve coached for 17 years and now to be out there playing the game that I’ve coached, it’s a lot different. You look at a guy [while coaching] and go ‘oh, I don’t know why he didn’t get that,’ I can see it happening. Then you’re on the floor playing it and it’s like, ‘now I know why you didn’t get that.’

“It’s a totally different game, it’s fast paced. But it’s very fun and rewarding to be out there. As much as I’m sore and tired, I loved it.”

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It was always going to be a big test for the Outlaws, who just recently formed this season against a well-oiled and tuned machine like the Brewers.

The Brewers were the first Saskatchewan-based team in 40 years to play for the President’s Cup national men’s lacrosse championships, after winning the PGLL provincial title last year.

“It was a lot closer than we thought it was going to be,” Holizki said. “The boys battled hard. The thing is only having three practices before this game, it’s a rough transition. We had a few guys that have only been at one practice. It’s definitely a rust thing, but it will come. Nobody’s down on themselves, so that’s good.”

Kyle Sawchuk will forever have the distinction of scoring the first ever Outlaws goal, doing so at the 14-minute mark of the first period.

Javan Bexson scored the second in the sandwich stanza. Cody Folstad scored a pair of goals in the third period.

Brandon Murphy, Drew Dziadyk and Levi Dziadyk all had hat tricks for the Brewers.

The Outlaws have a pair of games next weekend, on the road agains the Saskatoon Steelers on Friday, before a return home to host the Regina Heat on Saturday at the Kinsmen Arena.

Jeff D’Andrea is paNOW’s sports reporter. He can be reached at jdandrea@jpbg.ca or tweet him @jeff_paNOW.