Shamrocks host Team Slovakia

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“We are fortunate to have a dry floor venue to host a late season game like this,” Nitchie said. He will be joined on the bench by guest coaches Myles Brumpton and Darcy Rhodes as well as veteran Shamrock captains Chad Pounder and Pat Nelson.

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“We are very grateful to the City of Armstrong, Township of Spallumcheen and the Parks and Recreation Commission for donating the floor time for this game,” he said.

The game is a fundraiser for Team Slovakia who receive very limited funding to attend the World Championships.

“We are pricing all admission for the game at $10 which we feel is reasonable and given the limited seating capacity we are encouraging fans to arrive early and squeeze into the bleachers like they did in the old days” Nitchie added.

Prior to the game, there will be a pre-game practice.

Then, in true Armstrong hospitality, the team will be treated to a pre-game dinner sponsored by the Armstrong Ladies Club at the Centennial Hall.

“The Armstrong Ladies Club support so many great causes in the community and when they were asked if they could help out hosting these international visitors they jumped at the opportunity,” Nitchie said.

The game should be a competitive one with the Shamrocks fielding a full roster of their championship performers. The roster will include three-time league leading scorer Brett Hawrys who will return home from university to play in the game. He will be joined by long time teammate and current member of the National Lacrosse League Vancouver Warriors Owen Barker.

The Shamrocks have also reached out to other TOSLL teams and will feature Kamloops Rattlers leading scorer AJ Lockwood as well as Kelowna Raiders sniper Andrew Garrant and goaltender Graham Cousins.

“We wanted to field a competitive team and use the opportunity to include players from other league teams to build some comaraderie and showcase some of the talent growing in the league,” Nitchie said.

The Shamrocks will host two practices in advance of the game and have brought in guest coaches Myles Brumpton whose long lacrosse career in Junior A at the Lower Mainland, playing Senior in Vernon and Kelowna and coaching the Vernon Junior Tigers brings a wealth of lacrosse experience to the team.

The Shamrocks will also welcome Darcy Rhodes, a long time player in the Western Lacrosse Association with NLL experience and an impressive coaching resume as the Technical Director with the BC Lacrosse Association.

“Having Myles and Darcy help out at practices will bring some exciting opportunities for our players to learn and strategize against this international team,” Nitchie said..

The Shamrocks last hosted an international friendly match in 1978 when Team Australia played at the Hassen Arena on their way to the Commonwealth Games hosted in Edmonton. The Shamrocks easily defeated the Aussies with Jim Maundrell named as an all star.

“Hosting the Aussies in ‘78 was one of the highlights of my lacrosse career and we all have great memories from the game and hanging out with their team after the game,” Maundrell said. “What a great opportunity for this generation of Shamrocks to get a similar experience.”

The game will be played under international box lacrosse rules which feature some slightly different nuances: four to 15 minute quarters, three officials, different face off rules and a 10 second requirement to get the ball out of the defensive end and across centre to name just a few.

“Three local officials have donated their time to officiate the game and are brushing up on some of the rule changes,” Nitchie said. The game won’t be played with the larger nets due to availability.