John MacNeil
Daily Herald
It’s been a whirlwind of an August for Prince Albert teenager Jaite Bexson on the national lacrosse front.
Just days after representing Saskatchewan in the Canadian minor box lacrosse nationals at Halifax, Bexson spent the past weekend in Toronto for practice sessions with Team Canada’s U15 Futures squad.
“Yeah, it’s definitely been jam-packed with stuff,” Bexson said Saturday night from his Toronto hotel room.
At the end of July, the 14-year-old Bexson was told that, after an earlier tryout camp, he had earned a berth on the national team. He got the news soon after competing with Team Saskatchewan in an exhibition tournament at Red Deer, Alta.
“I just finished up the tournament there and my dad got the email that I made the team,” said Bexson, going into Grade 9 at Carlton Comprehensive High School.
He’s among seven boys from Saskatchewan selected to Team Canada, which ran a three-day camp just last weekend that included practices and exhibition play.
“It was definitely nerve-racking at the start, but once you get comfortable and meet a bunch of new guys and stuff, it’s just a blast,” said Bexson, who has been playing lacrosse for about 10 years.
“I did play hockey, but I gave it up this year because I wanted to play Team Canada (lacrosse) instead.”
Bexson and his Canadian teammates gathered just a few days after the minor lacrosse nationals wrapped up the previous weekend. Team Canada regroups this fall for international tournaments Sept. 24-27 at Maryland and Oct. 9-11 in Oshawa, Ont.
For the second straight summer, Bexson visited Halifax for the national championship tournament. At the U15 level, his Team Sask lost to host Nova Scotia in the B final.
Bexson scored 13 points, including a team-leading 10 goals, in six games at nationals.
“As an individual, I thought (I played) pretty good,” he said. “As a team, I thought we could have done a lot better than how we performed, but sometimes you don’t always get the outcome that you want.”
That edition of Team Sask included four players and an assistant coach from Prince Albert.
Bexson’s younger brother, Ryan, was part of the Saskatchewan U13 boys’ team, which took home bronze from nationals. Their father, Javan, was head coach of that provincial team, which included four players and two coaches from Prince Albert.
Team Sask’s U13 girls, including three P.A. players, also captured national bronze.
