Being a fan of lacrosse in Saskatchewan means you are going to be very aware of how the arrival of the National Lacrosse League Rush was initially thought to be a bit of a flyer that would fail to find a fan base.
While hoping that the Rush would be a success, driving home from Saskatoon I’ll admit the discussion was whether the team could hold the rather modest opening crowd.
Of course they held the crowd, and in fact grew it through the early part of year-one with the sport, and the Rush proving the naysayers wrong.
The Rush have been a success story, growing a strong Prairie base for a sport that was not widely played here pre-Rush.
The NLL is hoping the same success can be found in Halifax where the Thunderbirds were launched in their first season last fall, pre the COVID-19 league shutdown.
“It was always part of the vision,” offered Thunderbird star Cody Jamieson, adding team ownership have always been dedicated to taking lacrosse to more people, the move from Rochester to Halifax an extension of that vision.
It should be noted Rochester were not left without a team, with the NLL giving new owners an expansion team also launched this past season.
Jamieson, a Mohawk lacrosse player from the Turtle Clan at Grand River, said the response to the Thunderbirds had been very encouraging up until the COVID shutdown, adding that he had anticipated good things in Halifax.
“I wouldn’t call it surprising,” he said, adding he had played in the city at the 2007 world indoor lacrosse championships with the Iroquois, so he had a sense there was interest in the sport.
“And, I got to go the Memorial Cup,” he added, noting it was not a Moosehead game he has attended, but two non-local teams, and it was a sell out with fans cheering for goals for both teams. He said that experience showed fans just wanted a good experience and to be entertained, and indoor lacrosse provides both in large doses.
Jamieson said he has always said “you’ve got to see our sport, see us play ... Come watch a game and you’ll be hooked.”
Certainly it is a bit more complicated than that, Jamieson said, adding the game is fast, with a lot happening, so fans need to learn the game, but the speed is also the big draw too.
Once the intricacies are learned Jamieson said new fans will love the goals, the hits, the passing “so many thing syou’ll want to stand for” that a seat becomes little used.
It helps in the case of the Thunderbirds to have a veteran like Jamieson to watch. He was selected first overall by the Rochester in the 2010 NLL draft, when he had 53 points in his rookie season and finished second to Curtis Dickson in the Rookie of the Year voting.
And, Jamieson was with Rochester when they won back-to-back-to back championships in 2012-2013-2014, which he said was likely his career highlight, although playing internationally with the Iroquois has been special too.
“You’re representing an entire group of people all over North America, all over Turtle Island,” he said.
Of course Jamieson was playing lacrosse at an early age.
“Everybody in my family plays, my brother, my dad. My grandfathers, uncles, cousins, they all played,” he said.
That is not surprising since the Mohawk culture has lacrosse interwoven with their creator stories that relate how the game was given by the creator to the people.
“But, that’s not how, or why I fell in love with the sport,” said Jamieson, adding for him it was more of following a family tradition to play, and he became hooked.
“It was like my first love. It was all I wanted to do,” he said, adding living in the country he recalls “playing catch with my imaginary friend. My stick was my best friend.
“I was also looking for somebody to play catch with me.”
That intense interest in lacrosse only grew in Jamieson.
“I’ve always felt ... in my heart this was the best sport in the world,” he said, adding he played the others, but none captured his interest like lacrosse.
That love of the sport remains, so seeing the NLL season ended prematurely was not easy, made worse by the fact Halifax were looking good.
“I felt like we were on a roll,” said Jamieson. “I was really confident in the team’s ability .... That we could do something special, but at the end of the day the whole world stopped. You have to take it as it is and remember the good memories.”
Moving forward, Jamieson hopes the NLL continues to expand, and especially in Canada, where he feels a couple of more teams can entice a network such as TSN to broadcast games.
“The league needs a big TV deal,” he said.
