The 2016 Estevan Minor Box Lacrosse (EMBL) season promises to be one of change for the association and its players.
EMBL co-president Jody Harris said the novice, peewee, bantam and midget teams will begin play in the Queen City Minor Box Lacrosse League (QCMBL) this season, realizing a dream that took years to make a reality. She said play in the QCMBL will allow the participating kids to take part in a more competitive series of contests during the year.
“One thing we didn’t have (before) was the advantage of playing on a regular basis,” said Harris. “There are some kids who played for five or six years, but they may have played 25 games all along.”
Harris said these kids will now play about 12 games during their late-April to early-July regular season, which is eight more in a year than usual. She said this means each of the kids will have to be prepared to go hard on the floor at all times, so the biggest learning curve for them this season will be understanding they have to practise as hard as they play in games.
“It’s going to be a great year for development,” she said. “There was a bit of a skill-level gap, but now our age groups are slowly closing that gap, which is really good to see.”
The 2016 season will have around 135 kids take part in the EMBL, which is on par with last season’s record enrolment of 140 players. Thirty kids are currently enrolled in the mini-tyke and tyke programs, 25 are signed up for the novice division, 23 will play with the peewee team, 20 are slotted in for the bantam squad, 12 have registered for midget and 25 are expected to join the Estevan Harris Oilfield Impact senior team.
The EMBL will field one team in each mini-tyke to midget division. While the peewee to midget teams will play in the QCMBL, the 12 mini-tyke kids and 18 tyke players will enjoy a season focused on having fun in their own backyard.
Harris said these teams will participate in a Moose Jaw, Regina and home festival during the season. The Estevan festival is tentatively scheduled for June 18 and will feature the mini-tyke and tyke teams take on squads from Moose Jaw and Regina in a round-robin tournament, which will also serve as their season windup.
Due to the Crescent Point Energy Western Canada Cup taking place in Estevan from April 30 to May 8, the ice will remain unbroken at the city’s rinks forcing the EMBL to play the first half of their season on the floor of the Bienfait Memorial Arena. The EMBL novice to midget teams begin practising in Bienfait this week, while the mini-tyke and tyke kids will start play on April 20.
Harris said three years ago the lacrosse season didn’t start until the end of April, but joining the QCMBL forced them to move up the practice schedule so they won’t be running behind the teams they’ll be facing. She said the QCMBL is currently working on finalizing the game schedule with the expected start of the season coming in late-April.The peewee to midget’s EMBL season will come to a close the weekend of July 8 to 10 with provincial playoffs in Regina, while the novice season will end at the close of the QCMBL playoffs in late June.
“It’s going to be a good year,” said Harris. “It’s a lot of change not only practising in Bienfait, but with the Queen City Minor Box League. I’m pretty excited for that and I think we’ve almost got everything pieced together.”
