A local lacrosse star earned the ultimate individual honour as his team landed a historic finish.
DeWinton’s Mattias Flammenspeck led his province in goals and scoring and was named tournament MVP as Team Alberta turned heads in winning national silver at the Bantam Boys Box Lacrosse Championships on Aug. 6 in Saskatoon.
“Right from tryouts coach (Gord Henry) said there was something special with the group he put together,” said Flammenspeck, a Heritage Heights School student. “He picked the team with not only skill, but teamwork and how they would worked together.
“And it paid off.”
The Wildrose province finished with six wins in seven round-robin games, including four straight victories highlighted by a 6-5 triumph over B.C. to advance to the semifinal.
Flammenspeck, who plays at the club level with the Okotoks Hawks Bantam 1, potted a tournament high seven points in the team’s 19-1 romp over Manitoba. He was a major figure in Alberta’s remarkable 9-4 win over B.C. in the semifinal in potting a hat-trick to lead the squad to the gold medal game.
“We were just working so hard, we never stopped,” Flammenspeck said. “We were all pretty excited because I don’t think an Alberta team has beaten B.C. that badly.”
A rematch with Ontario went the way of the lacrosse powerhouse as they took the final convincingly in a 13-1 scoreline in Saskatoon.
Following the gold-medal game, Flammenspeck was surprised to find out of his MVP honours despite finishing fourth in scoring with nine goals and 17 points.
“The car ride home I couldn’t sleep, I was just really excited,” he said. “The same way I played there I need to bring it everywhere else I play and I will succeed a lot.”
He said he enjoyed the pressure and responsibility of shouldering the offensive load for the squad.
“My teammates counted on everyone,” he said. “But just knowing they were counting on me especially, just made me want to work that much harder and made me that much more excited to play the game.”
He will look to keep the momentum going as a member of Team Alberta at the Field Lacrosse National Championships in the first week of September.
The DeWintonite was competing in his second national tournament having previously earned the bronze medal in the Peewee ranks two summers ago.
Alberta nearly made a second trip to the podium in as many days.
Okotoks Raiders Jayce Dievert and Kaden Chinski and Team Alberta’s Peewee boys came up just short of a bronze medal in an inch close 5-4 loss to British Columbia on Aug. 7 in Whitby. Following three straight losses, Team Alberta went off for three consecutive victories over Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan to advance to the third place contest. Ontario edged First Nations in the gold medal game.
The news wasn’t as good for the Wildrose province in the Midget ranks.
Team Alberta went winless in six games at the minor lacrosse championships in Whitby with a record of 0-4-1, including a pair of narrow defeats to British Columbia and a draw with Nova Scotia.
The Midget squad featured Okotoks Hawks Luke Welton, Sean Garlock and Brendyn Kendall.
Team Ontario grabbed the gold medal with First Nations earning the silver and B.C. taking the bronze.
For more information on the minor lacrosse championships visit lacrosse.ca
