May 3, 2023 • 35 mins
Gary Bottomley was introduced to the game in 1968 and began to play in 1969.
He has continued to play, coach, coordinate leagues and run skill development programs for Tyke to Senior players over the past fifty years. Bottomley retired from playing in 1996 at the age of 43.
He played in 13 Canadian Championships and in some years he was a player-coach. In addition,
Bottomley was the coach of the 1999 Nova Scotia Field lacrosse team that played in the Canadian Championship that were held in Halifax of that year.
Other highlights include being a member of the 1973 Nova Scotia Canada Games Lacrosse Team that received the Silver Medal.
In 1975 he was drafted to the Quebec Caribou’s of the National Lacrosse League Later that summer he played in in the Canadian Senior B championship and won a Silver Medal.
In 1977 he was selected to coach the Nova Scotia Canada Summer Games Junior Lacrosse Team. In 1978 he was asked to play with the Crossbow Inn Capitals in Edmonton.
They won the the Alberta championship and went to the Canadian championships n B.C. He won Outstanding Player Awards in two of the games.
He was also selected as a First Team All Star. While playing and
coaching in Nova Scotia, Bottomley was a member of teams that won various league and provincial championships at both the junior and senior levels.
Catch this interview with one of the East Coast’s premier lacrosse people.
He has continued to play, coach, coordinate leagues and run skill development programs for Tyke to Senior players over the past fifty years. Bottomley retired from playing in 1996 at the age of 43.
He played in 13 Canadian Championships and in some years he was a player-coach. In addition,
Bottomley was the coach of the 1999 Nova Scotia Field lacrosse team that played in the Canadian Championship that were held in Halifax of that year.
Other highlights include being a member of the 1973 Nova Scotia Canada Games Lacrosse Team that received the Silver Medal.
In 1975 he was drafted to the Quebec Caribou’s of the National Lacrosse League Later that summer he played in in the Canadian Senior B championship and won a Silver Medal.
In 1977 he was selected to coach the Nova Scotia Canada Summer Games Junior Lacrosse Team. In 1978 he was asked to play with the Crossbow Inn Capitals in Edmonton.
They won the the Alberta championship and went to the Canadian championships n B.C. He won Outstanding Player Awards in two of the games.
He was also selected as a First Team All Star. While playing and
coaching in Nova Scotia, Bottomley was a member of teams that won various league and provincial championships at both the junior and senior levels.
Catch this interview with one of the East Coast’s premier lacrosse people.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Well, my name is Gary Bottomley. I don't have an ongoing across the
name. Some of the guys justcalled me Bots. Bill Manley used to
call me Bots all the time.Born in Halifax, nineteen fifty three and
presently sixty eight years old. Whichcommunities you know here? Anywhere? I
(00:28):
guess in the country. Did youactually play or coach or all? My
ninety nine percent of my playing washere in Nova Scotia, playing out of
Halifax. Uh. There was asummer that I went out to Edmonton and
played with the Edmonton There was ateam that the Capitols, the Sherwood Park
Capital UH team and UH the notionthere was to represent Alberta in the Commonwealth
(00:55):
Games. Demonstration sported lacrosse, playedwith them and we ended up taking We
didn't get to go to the Games, but we did win the provincial championship
and went on to lose to VernonTigers for the Canadian Championship. Do you
remember winning kind of how? Iguess? Yeah. He first got involved
in the game. Well, Iwas playing minor football, bantam football for
(01:17):
Garnet Knight on a team we playedat the West End of Halifax and the
Garnet was actually looking to play lacrossebecause there was nobody playing lacrosse the Nova
scot Ship and he was aware thatthe Canada Games had lacrosse in it for
the summer games to be held herein sixty nine. So he asked me
one day. My brother, oldestbrother, John, was really good friends
(01:38):
with Garenda. John also coached mein football, so he said, Gary,
how would lead to playing the CanadaGames? He said, I said,
yeah, that'd be great, noproblem. Said I'm going to put
together a team and we'll see whatwe can do and maybe even get a
league going here at some point.And my other brother Rick, just older
than me, he said, yeah, I would do that too. So
(01:59):
anyway, they put together a nightwhere we brought the players, you know,
interested players from around the area.Some of them were football players from
the team. And we didn't haveany sticks, but we did have sticks.
My brother John, he had pickedup fifty sticks out of a school
basement. This is one of thesticks that we had. Now they were
(02:21):
all dried. I restrung this yearsago just to keep as a you know,
keepsake. Well, the sticks werebreaking left right in center. He
catched the ball. The ball wasbreaking the runners, breaking the webbing because
they were leather. Anyways, Ilearned how to restring sticks at that time
because I went started to repair themfor the guys to use. Later in
(02:43):
that year, Cleave Sporting is Goodbrought in sticks from actually you know,
Cornwall. They were Chisholm sticks andthey're eight bucks apiece, can you imagine.
So we purchased those and went onfrom there and played. So the
first year it was a four teamleague actually developed from that initial meeting at
(03:04):
the gym. The four teams playingin the summer, and one of the
teams that I played on, Iwas only fifteen and my brother was eighteen
at the time. Oldest brother didn'tplay, but anyways, that team had
to play against Dartmouth. Dartmouth hadsome players that were playing, and we
played in a provincial championship Halifax won. That team went to represent Nova Scotia
(03:28):
and the Canada Games. That wasthe very first year. So what happened
I didn't get to play in theCanada Games because I was fifteen, and
they brought in a few guys frombrought up four players. Four players had
to leave the team. So oneof those players of Wayne fink. Well,
that's how it started. Yeah,and then I continued on as a
(03:51):
four team league and we'd play againstDartmouth, you know, to see who
we'd play and go to the Nationals. Nationals a big thing. That's what
we were really interested in doing.Then in seventy two, they came up
with the Canada Games format where theywere taking the best junior players in the
(04:11):
province getting them groomed up to playin the seventy three Canada Games. And
I did play in the seventy threeCanada Games where we did come second.
This is the Canada Games silver medal, a order to us after losing a
very hard fought battle with Ontario.And this is one of the only sweaters
(04:33):
that we know of. Myself andRick Cotro were talking with Rick Cotro was
a line made of mine in seventythree and this is his jersey and he
does not know how it got inhis bag. Now, he wasn't fooling
around. He does not know howthis ever got in his bag. Because
(04:55):
Bill Manley took these sweaters from usby it went person to per and took
each one of those sweaters back becausewe were supposed to be using them in
future years, right, so hedidn't want them lass. But anyways,
this one here did survive, andwe don't know where the others went.
Bill Manley might have kept them inthis chore somewhere. This is an actual
stick. This is Rick gotro stickthat was used in seventy three Canada games.
(05:19):
Anyways, you can see it's it'sa good old, good hero,
a good guy used hard. Giveus a snapshot of any family, whether
it's you mentioned some siblings or children, or any other sort of family connections
to the game other than my twobrothers and John and Rick. Rick played
and played, you know, playedright up until ninety or seventy nine.
(05:43):
I believe my sister even played,but no other other didn't have any other
family members. I had other cousinsthat were involved in athletics, but they
never picked up the game. Okay, And what do you do outside of
outside of lacrosse for the past fiftyyears? Well, educator, educator for
thirty two years, a physical educationteacher when I first started, and then
(06:08):
I became school administrator, vice principal, moved on to be a principal and
retired as a principal. Could yousort of give us a just a broad
summary of the types of roles you'veplayed over fifty years around the game.
Well, first of all player andshortly after playing and playing in the Canada
(06:29):
Games, it's involved in some clinicsrunning you know, workshops with Garnet Knight
or Bill Manley or Bill McBain.Wayne Fink and I we did a number
of clinics throughout the province, butalso coach, the coach at the minor
level, coached at the junior andsenior level. A lot of time.
As a senior player, I wasa player coach and then actually one year
(06:55):
ended up coaching the field lacrosse teamhere in nineteen ninety nine, so uh
coaching primarily. We had a juniorhigh league. All the years I was
in junior high teaching, we hada junior high and non contact lacrosse.
The end of cross game that actuallyWayne Fink brought to us when he came
back from Quebec. He was teachingin Quebec. The game was being played
(07:16):
there. Brought it to us.Myself and Rich Bizzants and two physic teachers.
We formed teams in our schools andthat's I believe it's still running today.
You mentioned the Canada Games as apivotal one, so let's go into
that a little bit more depth atthe stage. So Canada Games nineteen sixty
nine, we got beat badly byOntario twenty seven to two one or that
(07:40):
would be that would be the firsttime lacrosse was played at that level in
this province. Yeah, and wherewas that? That was in the Hellfax
form That was at the form Centennial. Yeah, no, not Centennial.
Centennial was big because that's where weplayed that four team league and those final
(08:00):
games at the end of the wehad fifteen hundred people or more in that
arena watching lacrosse. It was.It was really quite incredible. But anyways,
the game, of course, nothaving this success in sixty nine,
the coaches Garnet Knight, Bill wellBigMan, Bill mcdaine had been didn't coach
the team in sixty nine, butwas part of it kind of like Garnet
(08:22):
ran the team. And then inseventy two Garnet Knight and Bill Manly got
together and the direction from the provincewas, well, why don't we put
together a junior all star team thatwould really do well in seventy three,
So they put together a two yearprogram, and I'll tell you we were
(08:43):
committed the guys that were on thatgroup the first year. There were few
changes for the second year, whichwould have been seventy three. It was
it was intense training. Bill Manleywas the brains, Garnet Knight was the
motivator. They were a great teamtogether. And in Man's background when he
(09:03):
played, he played pro lacrosse intwel right. Yeah, he was from
Mimico, Toronto. Garnett was fromOreally I think uh. And they had
knowledge of other game. Bill Manley, he was he was a technician and
that's where we really learned the game. And so we played the Nationals in
seventy two U and actually we camethird, and then seventy three. Of
(09:28):
course we went to the Canada Gamesand that was in the Burnaby BC and
we played the Queens Park Arena.Our first two games. We didn't let
any the goal. We played SaskatchewanUH and PI and we were told not
to score. We were told playingthe wrong side of the floor. We
(09:52):
hadn't because we did. We wanteddisguise our abilities is one of Manli's tactics,
right, and so anyway we didthat and I got in trouble for
scoring. Other players got in troublefor scoring. But anyway, you're regardless.
So then we played Ontario, thebig power host and now they had
some players on that team. MikeFrench, yeah, and Willie Platt and
(10:15):
joej Ingerman were the big guns,all right. Mike Franciason Hall of Famer
in both Canada and the United States, and he was quality, quality player
unduely, but we tried to dealwith him. We put our best checker
on him when we played. Weplayed the first game against Ontario on a
Friday night. We were leading inthe end of the third period by two
(10:37):
goals and they came back tied itup. We scored in the overtime first,
they scored the next two. Itwas a ten minute overtime. So
then the next morning we played BritishColumbia. British Columbia was the other Big
Power host team, Ontario BC.They were the final teams in sixty nine,
so BC was looking to, youknow, play Ontario BC b Ontario
(10:58):
in sixty nine, so now beyou know, Ontario wanted to take out
BC. We beat BC the nextmorning. Roland Mitchenerre, the governor of
General of Canada. I have apicture of him. I took the opening
face off with him. He wasonly supposed to stay for a couple of
minutes. He stayed for almost thewhole period. Was that exciting? You
know? So anyways, BC,they did they take a little lately coming
(11:24):
in. Do you think maybe,Yeah, they didn't take us lately after
that first game. No, andBC certainly and BC they knew what we
did the night before, so theysurely weren't going to take us easy.
All right. So anyways, weend up beating BC by two goals.
That that put us in the goldmedal game. And that's what we were
(11:45):
That's all we wanted was the goldmedal. Yea. We played for two
years, We gave up jobs,we gave up time. We practice you
know every day almost it felt likeevery day. And we were ready for
that game and up not winning thegame. Out shot him fifty to twenty
eight or something like that. Shothad twenty five shots in the last period
(12:09):
and essentially lost by goal they scoredand he opened that. Yeah, we
won the silver medal. Yeah,you know, we didn't win on the
scoreboard, but we sure one onthe floor. We feel Yeah, I'd
like to talk to some of thoseguys of you know. Actually, Joji
Ingerman I did talk to. Hewas a captain of the team and he
injured himself in our game. Herolled his ankle. He was in the
hospital and couldn't play the final game. But I called him. It was
(12:33):
our twenty fifth anniversary. I calledhim up and said I asked him see
if there was any footage to thatgame, because the whole game was televised.
It wasn't lie or not. Thefull game televised, but snippets were
done so that that tape had tobe somewhere. He said, they never
saw it anyways, that went there, but we did get three minute tape
(12:54):
of the last three minutes of thegame. Saturday evening, August the eleventh
saw the Queen's Park Arena packed forthe finale of the ten Province lacrosse tournament.
The third place bronze medal had alreadygone to British Columbia, who bombed
Alberta twenty to nine that afternoon,and then it was Ontario in Nova Scotia
in the final fight for the goldand silver. You cover that game,
Haboudri p Tom. It was quitea Final. The crowd, of course,
(13:18):
was cheering for the underdog Maritimers.Ontario had narrowly defeated Nova Scotia eight
to seven in the regular tournament ina game that saw fifty four minutes in
penalties and seventy five shots on thetwo nets. The amazing part of the
Nova Scotia lacrosse story, of course, is the fact that lacrosse was started
in Nova Scotia, especially for thenineteen sixty nine Canada games, and now
(13:41):
four years later they're in the finaltone. So let's watch the game.
It's the third period. As wepick up the action, Ontario leads Nova
Scotia by a score of seven tosix. Here's the play by play with
Haboudri. Nova Scotia May seven tofive. Got Roll art shot by got
(14:13):
Roll, elected by scooball A.Skosia retained possession the black of their tea
got Row. Why are you goingfor? Harsh Key? Number ten?
(14:37):
Richard got Roll put the ball.He passes it over to DONC. Harshy.
You'll keep the play here in themanager Hea gives a little fake over
the car. Harshy number clawl.He fires it right underneath the Ontario gold
caller one thirty five remaining in thegame. NBA Scosia have pulled their goaltender
(15:00):
right and tie this up. They'retrying that there's a shot and bounce this
high. Nova Scotia thirty three.I'm tell them right in front. There's
the shot. Coble makes the stop. It's into the corner. One fifteen
remaining this game for the gold medal. It comes back, the shot is
deflected. Tell them recovers or NovaScotia one goal separating the two clubs.
(15:26):
Ontario in the league. One minuteremaining in the game. Va Scotia and
pull the gold stender. There's ahard shot deflected out. They're all around
that depth. There's another shot.Scuba makes the same cut, drawing shot
in flected into the corner. NovaScotia crying for the gold. They're coming.
(15:48):
There's the shot. Toobo locks playof the ball, but it bounced
stout and Ontario. I'll take offthe thirty two seconds d a chariot a
different event. They're end of thecorner. Eighteen seconds remaining. A loose
(16:12):
ball at cross pectop find a potshot. Nine seconds remaining in the game,
and that a defty there's a longshot Ontary all coward, they can
(16:33):
eat the thick a long shot fightNormy Hope, that Ontario team is looing
crazy. Number seven, number seventeen. Army Hope picks up a boot ball
here, let the long shot rightinto the center of the net. That
end of the ball game right there, all across last of the general sports
(17:00):
without a better turning point. Forjust yeah that that really uh you know,
that put us on the map.Yeah, for sure. And later
after that the Lobster Trap Tournament wasgenerated. The interest was high, the
registration lacrosse was really really strong.My brother was involved with that part of
(17:26):
it. He was a president ofthe Centennial Lacrosse Association and he had stats
at all understanding of the fact thatlacrosse was a participants in lacrosse we wrote
doing hockey and softball or baseball inthe metro area at that time. Interestingly
(17:47):
enough, that team we played inseventy four here and it was the first
time we beat an Ontario team anytimesthat we went to the Nationals. But
they then won the monment. Butyou know, we finally got her opportunity
and we beat them once and they, of course they went on to win
the tournament. Uh, Canada Gamesteam format was maintained even in seventy seven,
(18:14):
and I ended up I was coachingthat with Mike Lothian. Uh,
and I was also it was thejunior senior league that we played in.
That team was playing in the juniorsenior league. Now, don Koherski was
a member of our Canada Games team. He was running the program in Dartmouth
and sent out of the the ShannonPark arena and Donnie challenged that team.
(18:38):
He said, you know, willchallenge him. See who goes to the
Canada Games. And we didn't winthe challenge that that team won and went
on to the Canada Games in seventyseven in Newfoundland. And so anyways,
that's uh the Canada Games history inseventy seven and Saint Johns you were coaching,
Yes, yeah, I was consideredcalled to manager because you could only
(19:02):
have a coach and a manager.But Bill Mike Lothian, he was the
official coach. I was the officialmanager and this year is a pitcher of
the seventy seven Canada Games team.Now with that team is Ricky Peters and
Gary Hirschman they were the goalies andNorman Humm Normi's here with the A.
(19:25):
He played seventy three and I thinkthat was it. Yeah, you guys
had good success there. Yeah,we had good We played well. We
had a strong team. But youknow, you go the teams that go
to the Nationals or teams that maketheir way there through tough slugging. We
go as an all star team someonean all star team. You needed,
(19:48):
you need to have competition. Wewent to Ontario that year. We played
a number of teams. We playedthe Oshwald Green Gals Junior eight team.
They you know, I don't know, fifteen four or five the game it
was one hundred and nine degrees thoughit was crazy. We played a team
from Hamilton, We played the teamfrom Waterloo Kitchener water Tube. To gain
(20:11):
experience, you know, getting thateven even in seventy two, we went
to Ontario. We played the rectStale Warriors, the team that beat Nova
Scotia twenty seven, you know totwo or three whatever it was four years
before. Yeah, and we endedup, you know, losing fourteen eight
or nine or something. But yougotta you're gonna have that high intensity competition
to see what's going on, andalso you know, press yourself to be
(20:33):
as good as we moved on intothe seventies, we went to Nationals.
You know, we'd always be fourthor fifth. Seventy five though we ended
up in second. I had beendrafted by Quebec, not Quebec Cariboo.
Wayne went to them, but Iwas yeah, Quebec Cariboo. I was
(20:56):
drafted by them, didn't stay withthe team, came back here, played
senior year and we took a groupof guys that were available to go home.
We went to Makeog. We endedup playing against the fullers from Edmonton
for the Canadian Championship and lost bytwo goals. You know. Yeah,
so that was you know a bitof a highlight for sure. And some
(21:18):
of the sort of the nucleus ofthat team might have been a lot of
the guys coming right up through junior. Yeah, they would have been oh
yeah, they had all been playershad played junior, you know, mad
with the co Hos, be itwith the guys from down the shore,
you know, Prospect Way, there'sthose players from there, and then the
Halifax nucleus. What was the sortof motivating factor for that? Okay,
nineteen seventy seven, we played whatwe're called the pre Comweth Games Lacrosse tournament
(21:45):
which is Canadian Nationals all right,and I had a good tournament and actually
played against Johnny Davis in that tournament. Somebody might know his name. Anyway.
We played albert and believe we beatAlberta that year but didn't win the
Canadian championship. Played well, hlah rah. The manager of the Alberta
(22:10):
team approached me, I believe atthat tournament said Gary, how would you
be would you be interested in comingour way next year and playing were you
know we were going to be possiblyrepresenting the province in the Calmwalth Games demonstration
sport for the Commwath Gagement whee lacrosse? Oh yeah great, ye give me
a call. Didn't think anything wouldhappen. He did call me, call
me, I think in October.I said yeah, okay, I'll go.
He says, is there anybody elsethat might be interested in coming out?
(22:33):
You know, you know and wecould that we could talk to.
I said, yeah, my goodbuddy NORMI hum yeah. We played together
in the Canada Games. He wasa setup guy from me. He was
always setting me up anyway, SoI said, yeah, NORMI hum you
he might be interested and Wayne Finkhe's teaching in Quebec. But you know,
I see if you if you'd beinterested. So anyways, he called
(22:53):
him up. Both those guys,you know, both agreed to play out
there. And already out there wasHosswah who was one of the top senior
goalies in the in the province,but he was working out there in Dougie
Baker, another good quality player atthe Dartmouth Okay, sooth they were out
there, yea, they went andmade when before the team played with the
(23:14):
team Wayne Norman and I we flewin in the summertime. So anyways,
and we played and we lost.As I mentioned earlier, we lost that
that pre tournament for the Comwealth Games, the Fullers beat us. They were
the representative for Alberta to go toplay against Australia. All right, we
(23:37):
played Australia just in an exhibition game. Unfortunately, they were field players,
didn't have a real good feel forthe game. They weren't going to have
a lot of success. But theycame and good good autum now anyways,
but then we won the provincial championship, beating the Fullers and beating the team
from Calgary, and we went tothe Nationals represent at Alberta and came second.
(24:03):
And the team that we lost toVernon Tigers, they won three years
in a row the senior championships,okay, seventy six, seventy seven,
and seventy eight. Norman stayed outa little longer. Wayne was teaching.
See, we were both teaching backin Halifax. Ever, Wayne was teaching
Quebec at that time. I wasteaching here and you know, like careers
were on the line. You know, you're get in line for a probationary
(24:25):
contract and your permanency could be comingthe next year. You're not going to
be fooling around going you know West. So anyways, that was you know,
so I didn't didn't go back.Yeah, it's a great opportunity though,
Yeah, it was. It wasgreat summer joined. They were good
guys. You know, they weresimilar to us because they all, you
know, they came up being fourth, play fifth, fifth place, but
(24:45):
they won the Nationals in seventy five. Feather in their head. Yeah,
yeah, I think it was theninety nine You mentioned the fielding Nationals here,
Yeah, could you could you talkabout experience and so just the contrast
part of it too. With thegames. It's it's a different game because
(25:07):
you know, you have the field, uh, set ups different three defense
at long poles, you had yourmidfielders and your forwards, and there were
strategies about who was going over theinto the you know, the forward zone
and or defensive zone. There's tricksyou could use. Uh. We didn't
have a great deal of experience withit, but we you know, I
(25:30):
checked things out as best I couldwatch some stuff. You know, you'd
see stuff on TV now and again. So that was that was a senior
tournament, and that was a seniorsenior men's tournament. We had some really
quality players, but people who camethey had played the game a lot longer
than we had. Had the movementand the offensive end, you stick a
(25:52):
guy behind the nets. If therewas a shot, the ball went out
of the bounds. You know,we we knew that and we used that.
But when these guys they were justmore experienced at the game, not
so much skill wise of catching andthrowing and running, but the movement of
the ball and shooting on the nut. Uh. But anyways, so we
enjoyed it and UH all good andhow I chose to see the game sort
(26:17):
of change or really didn't change,but the game was still fast. At
the national level. The game thatwe played here was different than the game
that we would play when we wentto the Nationals. Play here, you
know, the officials sometimes were verystrict on slashing and especially you know,
(26:37):
uh picks, you know, movingpicks and screens. We'd get called down
all the time on those. Andyou go to the Nationals and that's eighty
percent of the offense is the picksand the screens. And we were you
know, just drove us nuts whenwe play here, you know, looking
for that same kind of experience,because if we were going to go away,
we you know, the guys thathad played in the Nationals and new
(26:59):
that. Some of the guys camein knew well they just played. But
anyway, that was that was adifference. But the game was always the
same, and at the Nationals itwas pretty high level. The prize.
Yeah, but as you said,it's it's difficult to know. Yeah,
they simulated through the lead up andthe league play here. They're playing regularly.
They're half an hour drive from anothercommunity there. Yeah, they're playing
(27:22):
at a certain depth there. Yeah, and they wouldn't be an All Star
team. They would be most ofthese teams, they were solid teams all
the way through. Yeah, andwe'd go up with mixed guys together we
all could play the game. Butthe gel as a team, that's another
story, you know. Anyway,Yeah, some of the standouts that well,
(27:45):
you you sort of looked back andI'll go right back to nineteen seventy
two night. Yeah, nineteen seventywe held the Founders Cup here in Nova
Scotia in cintenn the Arena and st. Rege's team was one of the teams
participating. There was a Whitby transport. They had a fabulous power play.
(28:06):
They three passes behind the back acrossthe crease in the net, right,
We've never seen that before. SaintReege's team had Michael bennedet Travis Cook too
high and really high level players andthey could shoot from anywhere. And Michael
Bennett, his stick skills are justphenomenal. Let's really impressed me, you
(28:30):
know, and I I looked atthat and said, I'd like to be
able to do that. So thatimpacted me as an individual developing my skills,
utilizing some of the things that I'veseen from him, and also Bill
Manley, because Bill Manley was amagician with a stick as well. So
anyways, that was a big influence. The other players I played against when
(28:56):
I went to that Cariboot camp.Travis Cooke was there actually, but Terry
Sanderson was a player with him andI played against in nationals. He was
a quality player for sure. Heplayed pro and his brother and Lindsay played
against him. He had another brotherand his name escapes my mind, but
(29:19):
Jim Higgs. He wrote a bookon lacrosse, but he was playing with
that Quebec team. I was anotherguy, Brian Evans, who was a
big score for Peterborough, played withhim. Kenny Alexander from British British Columbia.
Kenny there was I think he hada brother, Kevin, but I'm
not sure, but Kenny. Everyonemight have been Kevin. And anyways,
(29:41):
he played with the Caribous. Wegot along grade him and I gay Lord
Polis Gaylor Pollas played with that Quebecteam. But you know what, I
looked up and he didn't finish theseason. I don't know if he was
hurt or he went on to anotherteam or they traded him. Anyways,
but I have a clipping maybe I'llshow me get a headline that I had
(30:03):
from that camp with his picture.So I trumped them. I trumped him
on the headline. The EBB andflow, popularity of the game and how
you know, it's how it's playedout here in Nova Scotia on its own
merits or versus you know, otherparts of the country. After the sixty
nine Canada Games and seventy three,things came up and registrations kids are playing
(30:29):
all over the metro area and somewherealong the line in the eighties seemed to
decline. The air came out ofthe blue and so to speak, and
we looked back the guys I playedwith over the years, we looked back
at that whole idea. Why didwe lose the registration and why you know,
how our kids are not playing asmuch as people were volunteering trying to
(30:56):
get a game. Wayne, youknow, put great efforts into it with
the inter Cross awesome myself, tryingto keep the game alive with the kids,
but it slowed down. Well,I see, you know what Canada
Games format of the whole idea wasof other sports and Canada coming together every
four years to play sports showed peoplethere's more sports than just hockey in Canada
(31:19):
and so and there's only so manykids in Nova Scotia. He did not
big part you know, didn't havea great population, so they made other
choices. But elsewhere and soccer wasa big impact. Then when things started
to improve a bit, lacrosse isbeing televised hesn with putting the Toronto Rock
(31:42):
on, so you know, wesaw some improvements there. The World Championships
were held here, various national championshipswere held here. So that's where the
ebb and flow comes. So theparents of the kids are seeing these,
you know, all lacrosses and haveall let's go see if you can play,
oh oh, what would you ratherplay? Soccer or lacrosse? You
(32:06):
know, kids will be able tomake choices through various sports. Now we
have the Thunderbirds in Halifax. You'llsee what's happening. The numbers will go
up and the game has survived.The game has survived over fifty years here,
you know, so hopefully the Iwill be on the high side.
There any players in particular that havekind of developed through Nova Scotia that you
(32:31):
have followed with interest in terms oftheir development where they're going. Yeah,
not in a big way. AndWayne thinks Son Danny. I coached him
and minor lacrosse. H he hada career, you know, he played
the pro lacrosse. Great kid,you know, same kind of ideals.
Is Wayne hard worker, good athlete, really good athlete. There was another
(32:55):
young fellow that I had actually playedin across forming a uh, and he
went on Mitch Hannigan. He's agoaltender and he's done, you know,
he's done start. He's worked withinthe province in lacrosse. And but he
played senior lacrosse. So players thathave moved on, uh, that I
(33:17):
worked with, those would be twotwo that I can remember for sure.
Are there people from other parts ofthe country that were influential in your in
your development or well, no,we I would not say anybody watching the
quality players at the nationals. TerrySanderson's gailor you know, not Gaylor,
(33:37):
but Travis cooked. Those guys playing, Uh, those guys when you watch
them play, they you know,played so smartly. Lindsay Lindsay Sanderson,
we played played against him in OldWest in British Columbia in seventy would have
(33:58):
been seventy eight. You know,just seeing those guys, and there's probably
a lot more names that I wouldhave been able to give to you,
but those names have just gone bythe wayside. Yeah, okay, what's
your sense of the future for thegame in Nova Scotia. What's your Well,
I'm positive right now in that youknow, the Thunderbirds, they're doing
(34:20):
a lot in the community, They'regetting into the schools. COVID kicked us
in the knee, and to youknow, it was disappointing because we were
I went to one game four thousandpeople, next game five and a half
thousand, next game six thousand,next game eight thousand. The game was
just just taken off and the productis so good. It's you know,
(34:45):
it's the best lacrosse you're going tosee in this country for sure, and
then maybe in the world. Youknow, you have the top players and
the young kids seeing what those guyscan do, it's gonna rub off on
them for sure. As to
Well, my name is Gary Bottomley. I don't have an ongoing across the
name. Some of the guys justcalled me Bots. Bill Manley used to
call me Bots all the time.Born in Halifax, nineteen fifty three and
presently sixty eight years old. Whichcommunities you know here? Anywhere? I
(00:28):
guess in the country. Did youactually play or coach or all? My
ninety nine percent of my playing washere in Nova Scotia, playing out of
Halifax. Uh. There was asummer that I went out to Edmonton and
played with the Edmonton There was ateam that the Capitols, the Sherwood Park
Capital UH team and UH the notionthere was to represent Alberta in the Commonwealth
(00:55):
Games. Demonstration sported lacrosse, playedwith them and we ended up taking We
didn't get to go to the Games, but we did win the provincial championship
and went on to lose to VernonTigers for the Canadian Championship. Do you
remember winning kind of how? Iguess? Yeah. He first got involved
in the game. Well, Iwas playing minor football, bantam football for
(01:17):
Garnet Knight on a team we playedat the West End of Halifax and the
Garnet was actually looking to play lacrossebecause there was nobody playing lacrosse the Nova
scot Ship and he was aware thatthe Canada Games had lacrosse in it for
the summer games to be held herein sixty nine. So he asked me
one day. My brother, oldestbrother, John, was really good friends
(01:38):
with Garenda. John also coached mein football, so he said, Gary,
how would lead to playing the CanadaGames? He said, I said,
yeah, that'd be great, noproblem. Said I'm going to put
together a team and we'll see whatwe can do and maybe even get a
league going here at some point.And my other brother Rick, just older
than me, he said, yeah, I would do that too. So
(01:59):
anyway, they put together a nightwhere we brought the players, you know,
interested players from around the area.Some of them were football players from
the team. And we didn't haveany sticks, but we did have sticks.
My brother John, he had pickedup fifty sticks out of a school
basement. This is one of thesticks that we had. Now they were
(02:21):
all dried. I restrung this yearsago just to keep as a you know,
keepsake. Well, the sticks werebreaking left right in center. He
catched the ball. The ball wasbreaking the runners, breaking the webbing because
they were leather. Anyways, Ilearned how to restring sticks at that time
because I went started to repair themfor the guys to use. Later in
(02:43):
that year, Cleave Sporting is Goodbrought in sticks from actually you know,
Cornwall. They were Chisholm sticks andthey're eight bucks apiece, can you imagine.
So we purchased those and went onfrom there and played. So the
first year it was a four teamleague actually developed from that initial meeting at
(03:04):
the gym. The four teams playingin the summer, and one of the
teams that I played on, Iwas only fifteen and my brother was eighteen
at the time. Oldest brother didn'tplay, but anyways, that team had
to play against Dartmouth. Dartmouth hadsome players that were playing, and we
played in a provincial championship Halifax won. That team went to represent Nova Scotia
(03:28):
and the Canada Games. That wasthe very first year. So what happened
I didn't get to play in theCanada Games because I was fifteen, and
they brought in a few guys frombrought up four players. Four players had
to leave the team. So oneof those players of Wayne fink. Well,
that's how it started. Yeah,and then I continued on as a
(03:51):
four team league and we'd play againstDartmouth, you know, to see who
we'd play and go to the Nationals. Nationals a big thing. That's what
we were really interested in doing.Then in seventy two, they came up
with the Canada Games format where theywere taking the best junior players in the
(04:11):
province getting them groomed up to playin the seventy three Canada Games. And
I did play in the seventy threeCanada Games where we did come second.
This is the Canada Games silver medal, a order to us after losing a
very hard fought battle with Ontario.And this is one of the only sweaters
(04:33):
that we know of. Myself andRick Cotro were talking with Rick Cotro was
a line made of mine in seventythree and this is his jersey and he
does not know how it got inhis bag. Now, he wasn't fooling
around. He does not know howthis ever got in his bag. Because
(04:55):
Bill Manley took these sweaters from usby it went person to per and took
each one of those sweaters back becausewe were supposed to be using them in
future years, right, so hedidn't want them lass. But anyways,
this one here did survive, andwe don't know where the others went.
Bill Manley might have kept them inthis chore somewhere. This is an actual
stick. This is Rick gotro stickthat was used in seventy three Canada games.
(05:19):
Anyways, you can see it's it'sa good old, good hero,
a good guy used hard. Giveus a snapshot of any family, whether
it's you mentioned some siblings or children, or any other sort of family connections
to the game other than my twobrothers and John and Rick. Rick played
and played, you know, playedright up until ninety or seventy nine.
(05:43):
I believe my sister even played,but no other other didn't have any other
family members. I had other cousinsthat were involved in athletics, but they
never picked up the game. Okay, And what do you do outside of
outside of lacrosse for the past fiftyyears? Well, educator, educator for
thirty two years, a physical educationteacher when I first started, and then
(06:08):
I became school administrator, vice principal, moved on to be a principal and
retired as a principal. Could yousort of give us a just a broad
summary of the types of roles you'veplayed over fifty years around the game.
Well, first of all player andshortly after playing and playing in the Canada
(06:29):
Games, it's involved in some clinicsrunning you know, workshops with Garnet Knight
or Bill Manley or Bill McBain.Wayne Fink and I we did a number
of clinics throughout the province, butalso coach, the coach at the minor
level, coached at the junior andsenior level. A lot of time.
As a senior player, I wasa player coach and then actually one year
(06:55):
ended up coaching the field lacrosse teamhere in nineteen ninety nine, so uh
coaching primarily. We had a juniorhigh league. All the years I was
in junior high teaching, we hada junior high and non contact lacrosse.
The end of cross game that actuallyWayne Fink brought to us when he came
back from Quebec. He was teachingin Quebec. The game was being played
(07:16):
there. Brought it to us.Myself and Rich Bizzants and two physic teachers.
We formed teams in our schools andthat's I believe it's still running today.
You mentioned the Canada Games as apivotal one, so let's go into
that a little bit more depth atthe stage. So Canada Games nineteen sixty
nine, we got beat badly byOntario twenty seven to two one or that
(07:40):
would be that would be the firsttime lacrosse was played at that level in
this province. Yeah, and wherewas that? That was in the Hellfax
form That was at the form Centennial. Yeah, no, not Centennial.
Centennial was big because that's where weplayed that four team league and those final
(08:00):
games at the end of the wehad fifteen hundred people or more in that
arena watching lacrosse. It was.It was really quite incredible. But anyways,
the game, of course, nothaving this success in sixty nine,
the coaches Garnet Knight, Bill wellBigMan, Bill mcdaine had been didn't coach
the team in sixty nine, butwas part of it kind of like Garnet
(08:22):
ran the team. And then inseventy two Garnet Knight and Bill Manly got
together and the direction from the provincewas, well, why don't we put
together a junior all star team thatwould really do well in seventy three,
So they put together a two yearprogram, and I'll tell you we were
(08:43):
committed the guys that were on thatgroup the first year. There were few
changes for the second year, whichwould have been seventy three. It was
it was intense training. Bill Manleywas the brains, Garnet Knight was the
motivator. They were a great teamtogether. And in Man's background when he
(09:03):
played, he played pro lacrosse intwel right. Yeah, he was from
Mimico, Toronto. Garnett was fromOreally I think uh. And they had
knowledge of other game. Bill Manley, he was he was a technician and
that's where we really learned the game. And so we played the Nationals in
seventy two U and actually we camethird, and then seventy three. Of
(09:28):
course we went to the Canada Gamesand that was in the Burnaby BC and
we played the Queens Park Arena.Our first two games. We didn't let
any the goal. We played SaskatchewanUH and PI and we were told not
to score. We were told playingthe wrong side of the floor. We
(09:52):
hadn't because we did. We wanteddisguise our abilities is one of Manli's tactics,
right, and so anyway we didthat and I got in trouble for
scoring. Other players got in troublefor scoring. But anyway, you're regardless.
So then we played Ontario, thebig power host and now they had
some players on that team. MikeFrench, yeah, and Willie Platt and
(10:15):
joej Ingerman were the big guns,all right. Mike Franciason Hall of Famer
in both Canada and the United States, and he was quality, quality player
unduely, but we tried to dealwith him. We put our best checker
on him when we played. Weplayed the first game against Ontario on a
Friday night. We were leading inthe end of the third period by two
(10:37):
goals and they came back tied itup. We scored in the overtime first,
they scored the next two. Itwas a ten minute overtime. So
then the next morning we played BritishColumbia. British Columbia was the other Big
Power host team, Ontario BC.They were the final teams in sixty nine,
so BC was looking to, youknow, play Ontario BC b Ontario
(10:58):
in sixty nine, so now beyou know, Ontario wanted to take out
BC. We beat BC the nextmorning. Roland Mitchenerre, the governor of
General of Canada. I have apicture of him. I took the opening
face off with him. He wasonly supposed to stay for a couple of
minutes. He stayed for almost thewhole period. Was that exciting? You
know? So anyways, BC,they did they take a little lately coming
(11:24):
in. Do you think maybe,Yeah, they didn't take us lately after
that first game. No, andBC certainly and BC they knew what we
did the night before, so theysurely weren't going to take us easy.
All right. So anyways, weend up beating BC by two goals.
That that put us in the goldmedal game. And that's what we were
(11:45):
That's all we wanted was the goldmedal. Yea. We played for two
years, We gave up jobs,we gave up time. We practice you
know every day almost it felt likeevery day. And we were ready for
that game and up not winning thegame. Out shot him fifty to twenty
eight or something like that. Shothad twenty five shots in the last period
(12:09):
and essentially lost by goal they scoredand he opened that. Yeah, we
won the silver medal. Yeah,you know, we didn't win on the
scoreboard, but we sure one onthe floor. We feel Yeah, I'd
like to talk to some of thoseguys of you know. Actually, Joji
Ingerman I did talk to. Hewas a captain of the team and he
injured himself in our game. Herolled his ankle. He was in the
hospital and couldn't play the final game. But I called him. It was
(12:33):
our twenty fifth anniversary. I calledhim up and said I asked him see
if there was any footage to thatgame, because the whole game was televised.
It wasn't lie or not. Thefull game televised, but snippets were
done so that that tape had tobe somewhere. He said, they never
saw it anyways, that went there, but we did get three minute tape
(12:54):
of the last three minutes of thegame. Saturday evening, August the eleventh
saw the Queen's Park Arena packed forthe finale of the ten Province lacrosse tournament.
The third place bronze medal had alreadygone to British Columbia, who bombed
Alberta twenty to nine that afternoon,and then it was Ontario in Nova Scotia
in the final fight for the goldand silver. You cover that game,
Haboudri p Tom. It was quitea Final. The crowd, of course,
(13:18):
was cheering for the underdog Maritimers.Ontario had narrowly defeated Nova Scotia eight
to seven in the regular tournament ina game that saw fifty four minutes in
penalties and seventy five shots on thetwo nets. The amazing part of the
Nova Scotia lacrosse story, of course, is the fact that lacrosse was started
in Nova Scotia, especially for thenineteen sixty nine Canada games, and now
(13:41):
four years later they're in the finaltone. So let's watch the game.
It's the third period. As wepick up the action, Ontario leads Nova
Scotia by a score of seven tosix. Here's the play by play with
Haboudri. Nova Scotia May seven tofive. Got Roll art shot by got
(14:13):
Roll, elected by scooball A.Skosia retained possession the black of their tea
got Row. Why are you goingfor? Harsh Key? Number ten?
(14:37):
Richard got Roll put the ball.He passes it over to DONC. Harshy.
You'll keep the play here in themanager Hea gives a little fake over
the car. Harshy number clawl.He fires it right underneath the Ontario gold
caller one thirty five remaining in thegame. NBA Scosia have pulled their goaltender
(15:00):
right and tie this up. They'retrying that there's a shot and bounce this
high. Nova Scotia thirty three.I'm tell them right in front. There's
the shot. Coble makes the stop. It's into the corner. One fifteen
remaining this game for the gold medal. It comes back, the shot is
deflected. Tell them recovers or NovaScotia one goal separating the two clubs.
(15:26):
Ontario in the league. One minuteremaining in the game. Va Scotia and
pull the gold stender. There's ahard shot deflected out. They're all around
that depth. There's another shot.Scuba makes the same cut, drawing shot
in flected into the corner. NovaScotia crying for the gold. They're coming.
(15:48):
There's the shot. Toobo locks playof the ball, but it bounced
stout and Ontario. I'll take offthe thirty two seconds d a chariot a
different event. They're end of thecorner. Eighteen seconds remaining. A loose
(16:12):
ball at cross pectop find a potshot. Nine seconds remaining in the game,
and that a defty there's a longshot Ontary all coward, they can
(16:33):
eat the thick a long shot fightNormy Hope, that Ontario team is looing
crazy. Number seven, number seventeen. Army Hope picks up a boot ball
here, let the long shot rightinto the center of the net. That
end of the ball game right there, all across last of the general sports
(17:00):
without a better turning point. Forjust yeah that that really uh you know,
that put us on the map.Yeah, for sure. And later
after that the Lobster Trap Tournament wasgenerated. The interest was high, the
registration lacrosse was really really strong.My brother was involved with that part of
(17:26):
it. He was a president ofthe Centennial Lacrosse Association and he had stats
at all understanding of the fact thatlacrosse was a participants in lacrosse we wrote
doing hockey and softball or baseball inthe metro area at that time. Interestingly
(17:47):
enough, that team we played inseventy four here and it was the first
time we beat an Ontario team anytimesthat we went to the Nationals. But
they then won the monment. Butyou know, we finally got her opportunity
and we beat them once and they, of course they went on to win
the tournament. Uh, Canada Gamesteam format was maintained even in seventy seven,
(18:14):
and I ended up I was coachingthat with Mike Lothian. Uh,
and I was also it was thejunior senior league that we played in.
That team was playing in the juniorsenior league. Now, don Koherski was
a member of our Canada Games team. He was running the program in Dartmouth
and sent out of the the ShannonPark arena and Donnie challenged that team.
(18:38):
He said, you know, willchallenge him. See who goes to the
Canada Games. And we didn't winthe challenge that that team won and went
on to the Canada Games in seventyseven in Newfoundland. And so anyways,
that's uh the Canada Games history inseventy seven and Saint Johns you were coaching,
Yes, yeah, I was consideredcalled to manager because you could only
(19:02):
have a coach and a manager.But Bill Mike Lothian, he was the
official coach. I was the officialmanager and this year is a pitcher of
the seventy seven Canada Games team.Now with that team is Ricky Peters and
Gary Hirschman they were the goalies andNorman Humm Normi's here with the A.
(19:25):
He played seventy three and I thinkthat was it. Yeah, you guys
had good success there. Yeah,we had good We played well. We
had a strong team. But youknow, you go the teams that go
to the Nationals or teams that maketheir way there through tough slugging. We
go as an all star team someonean all star team. You needed,
(19:48):
you need to have competition. Wewent to Ontario that year. We played
a number of teams. We playedthe Oshwald Green Gals Junior eight team.
They you know, I don't know, fifteen four or five the game it
was one hundred and nine degrees thoughit was crazy. We played a team
from Hamilton, We played the teamfrom Waterloo Kitchener water Tube. To gain
(20:11):
experience, you know, getting thateven even in seventy two, we went
to Ontario. We played the rectStale Warriors, the team that beat Nova
Scotia twenty seven, you know totwo or three whatever it was four years
before. Yeah, and we endedup, you know, losing fourteen eight
or nine or something. But yougotta you're gonna have that high intensity competition
to see what's going on, andalso you know, press yourself to be
(20:33):
as good as we moved on intothe seventies, we went to Nationals.
You know, we'd always be fourthor fifth. Seventy five though we ended
up in second. I had beendrafted by Quebec, not Quebec Cariboo.
Wayne went to them, but Iwas yeah, Quebec Cariboo. I was
(20:56):
drafted by them, didn't stay withthe team, came back here, played
senior year and we took a groupof guys that were available to go home.
We went to Makeog. We endedup playing against the fullers from Edmonton
for the Canadian Championship and lost bytwo goals. You know. Yeah,
so that was you know a bitof a highlight for sure. And some
(21:18):
of the sort of the nucleus ofthat team might have been a lot of
the guys coming right up through junior. Yeah, they would have been oh
yeah, they had all been playershad played junior, you know, mad
with the co Hos, be itwith the guys from down the shore,
you know, Prospect Way, there'sthose players from there, and then the
Halifax nucleus. What was the sortof motivating factor for that? Okay,
nineteen seventy seven, we played whatwe're called the pre Comweth Games Lacrosse tournament
(21:45):
which is Canadian Nationals all right,and I had a good tournament and actually
played against Johnny Davis in that tournament. Somebody might know his name. Anyway.
We played albert and believe we beatAlberta that year but didn't win the
Canadian championship. Played well, hlah rah. The manager of the Alberta
(22:10):
team approached me, I believe atthat tournament said Gary, how would you
be would you be interested in comingour way next year and playing were you
know we were going to be possiblyrepresenting the province in the Calmwalth Games demonstration
sport for the Commwath Gagement whee lacrosse? Oh yeah great, ye give me
a call. Didn't think anything wouldhappen. He did call me, call
me, I think in October.I said yeah, okay, I'll go.
He says, is there anybody elsethat might be interested in coming out?
(22:33):
You know, you know and wecould that we could talk to.
I said, yeah, my goodbuddy NORMI hum yeah. We played together
in the Canada Games. He wasa setup guy from me. He was
always setting me up anyway, SoI said, yeah, NORMI hum you
he might be interested and Wayne Finkhe's teaching in Quebec. But you know,
I see if you if you'd beinterested. So anyways, he called
(22:53):
him up. Both those guys,you know, both agreed to play out
there. And already out there wasHosswah who was one of the top senior
goalies in the in the province,but he was working out there in Dougie
Baker, another good quality player atthe Dartmouth Okay, sooth they were out
there, yea, they went andmade when before the team played with the
(23:14):
team Wayne Norman and I we flewin in the summertime. So anyways,
and we played and we lost.As I mentioned earlier, we lost that
that pre tournament for the Comwealth Games, the Fullers beat us. They were
the representative for Alberta to go toplay against Australia. All right, we
(23:37):
played Australia just in an exhibition game. Unfortunately, they were field players,
didn't have a real good feel forthe game. They weren't going to have
a lot of success. But theycame and good good autum now anyways,
but then we won the provincial championship, beating the Fullers and beating the team
from Calgary, and we went tothe Nationals represent at Alberta and came second.
(24:03):
And the team that we lost toVernon Tigers, they won three years
in a row the senior championships,okay, seventy six, seventy seven,
and seventy eight. Norman stayed outa little longer. Wayne was teaching.
See, we were both teaching backin Halifax. Ever, Wayne was teaching
Quebec at that time. I wasteaching here and you know, like careers
were on the line. You know, you're get in line for a probationary
(24:25):
contract and your permanency could be comingthe next year. You're not going to
be fooling around going you know West. So anyways, that was you know,
so I didn't didn't go back.Yeah, it's a great opportunity though,
Yeah, it was. It wasgreat summer joined. They were good
guys. You know, they weresimilar to us because they all, you
know, they came up being fourth, play fifth, fifth place, but
(24:45):
they won the Nationals in seventy five. Feather in their head. Yeah,
yeah, I think it was theninety nine You mentioned the fielding Nationals here,
Yeah, could you could you talkabout experience and so just the contrast
part of it too. With thegames. It's it's a different game because
(25:07):
you know, you have the field, uh, set ups different three defense
at long poles, you had yourmidfielders and your forwards, and there were
strategies about who was going over theinto the you know, the forward zone
and or defensive zone. There's tricksyou could use. Uh. We didn't
have a great deal of experience withit, but we you know, I
(25:30):
checked things out as best I couldwatch some stuff. You know, you'd
see stuff on TV now and again. So that was that was a senior
tournament, and that was a seniorsenior men's tournament. We had some really
quality players, but people who camethey had played the game a lot longer
than we had. Had the movementand the offensive end, you stick a
(25:52):
guy behind the nets. If therewas a shot, the ball went out
of the bounds. You know,we we knew that and we used that.
But when these guys they were justmore experienced at the game, not
so much skill wise of catching andthrowing and running, but the movement of
the ball and shooting on the nut. Uh. But anyways, so we
enjoyed it and UH all good andhow I chose to see the game sort
(26:17):
of change or really didn't change,but the game was still fast. At
the national level. The game thatwe played here was different than the game
that we would play when we wentto the Nationals. Play here, you
know, the officials sometimes were verystrict on slashing and especially you know,
(26:37):
uh picks, you know, movingpicks and screens. We'd get called down
all the time on those. Andyou go to the Nationals and that's eighty
percent of the offense is the picksand the screens. And we were you
know, just drove us nuts whenwe play here, you know, looking
for that same kind of experience,because if we were going to go away,
we you know, the guys thathad played in the Nationals and new
(26:59):
that. Some of the guys camein knew well they just played. But
anyway, that was that was adifference. But the game was always the
same, and at the Nationals itwas pretty high level. The prize.
Yeah, but as you said,it's it's difficult to know. Yeah,
they simulated through the lead up andthe league play here. They're playing regularly.
They're half an hour drive from anothercommunity there. Yeah, they're playing
(27:22):
at a certain depth there. Yeah, and they wouldn't be an All Star
team. They would be most ofthese teams, they were solid teams all
the way through. Yeah, andwe'd go up with mixed guys together we
all could play the game. Butthe gel as a team, that's another
story, you know. Anyway,Yeah, some of the standouts that well,
(27:45):
you you sort of looked back andI'll go right back to nineteen seventy
two night. Yeah, nineteen seventywe held the Founders Cup here in Nova
Scotia in cintenn the Arena and st. Rege's team was one of the teams
participating. There was a Whitby transport. They had a fabulous power play.
(28:06):
They three passes behind the back acrossthe crease in the net, right,
We've never seen that before. SaintReege's team had Michael bennedet Travis Cook too
high and really high level players andthey could shoot from anywhere. And Michael
Bennett, his stick skills are justphenomenal. Let's really impressed me, you
(28:30):
know, and I I looked atthat and said, I'd like to be
able to do that. So thatimpacted me as an individual developing my skills,
utilizing some of the things that I'veseen from him, and also Bill
Manley, because Bill Manley was amagician with a stick as well. So
anyways, that was a big influence. The other players I played against when
(28:56):
I went to that Cariboot camp.Travis Cooke was there actually, but Terry
Sanderson was a player with him andI played against in nationals. He was
a quality player for sure. Heplayed pro and his brother and Lindsay played
against him. He had another brotherand his name escapes my mind, but
(29:19):
Jim Higgs. He wrote a bookon lacrosse, but he was playing with
that Quebec team. I was anotherguy, Brian Evans, who was a
big score for Peterborough, played withhim. Kenny Alexander from British British Columbia.
Kenny there was I think he hada brother, Kevin, but I'm
not sure, but Kenny. Everyonemight have been Kevin. And anyways,
(29:41):
he played with the Caribous. Wegot along grade him and I gay Lord
Polis Gaylor Pollas played with that Quebecteam. But you know what, I
looked up and he didn't finish theseason. I don't know if he was
hurt or he went on to anotherteam or they traded him. Anyways,
but I have a clipping maybe I'llshow me get a headline that I had
(30:03):
from that camp with his picture.So I trumped them. I trumped him
on the headline. The EBB andflow, popularity of the game and how
you know, it's how it's playedout here in Nova Scotia on its own
merits or versus you know, otherparts of the country. After the sixty
nine Canada Games and seventy three,things came up and registrations kids are playing
(30:29):
all over the metro area and somewherealong the line in the eighties seemed to
decline. The air came out ofthe blue and so to speak, and
we looked back the guys I playedwith over the years, we looked back
at that whole idea. Why didwe lose the registration and why you know,
how our kids are not playing asmuch as people were volunteering trying to
(30:56):
get a game. Wayne, youknow, put great efforts into it with
the inter Cross awesome myself, tryingto keep the game alive with the kids,
but it slowed down. Well,I see, you know what Canada
Games format of the whole idea wasof other sports and Canada coming together every
four years to play sports showed peoplethere's more sports than just hockey in Canada
(31:19):
and so and there's only so manykids in Nova Scotia. He did not
big part you know, didn't havea great population, so they made other
choices. But elsewhere and soccer wasa big impact. Then when things started
to improve a bit, lacrosse isbeing televised hesn with putting the Toronto Rock
(31:42):
on, so you know, wesaw some improvements there. The World Championships
were held here, various national championshipswere held here. So that's where the
ebb and flow comes. So theparents of the kids are seeing these,
you know, all lacrosses and haveall let's go see if you can play,
oh oh, what would you ratherplay? Soccer or lacrosse? You
(32:06):
know, kids will be able tomake choices through various sports. Now we
have the Thunderbirds in Halifax. You'llsee what's happening. The numbers will go
up and the game has survived.The game has survived over fifty years here,
you know, so hopefully the Iwill be on the high side.
There any players in particular that havekind of developed through Nova Scotia that you
(32:31):
have followed with interest in terms oftheir development where they're going. Yeah,
not in a big way. AndWayne thinks Son Danny. I coached him
and minor lacrosse. H he hada career, you know, he played
the pro lacrosse. Great kid,you know, same kind of ideals.
Is Wayne hard worker, good athlete, really good athlete. There was another
(32:55):
young fellow that I had actually playedin across forming a uh, and he
went on Mitch Hannigan. He's agoaltender and he's done, you know,
he's done start. He's worked withinthe province in lacrosse. And but he
played senior lacrosse. So players thathave moved on, uh, that I
(33:17):
worked with, those would be twotwo that I can remember for sure.
Are there people from other parts ofthe country that were influential in your in
your development or well, no,we I would not say anybody watching the
quality players at the nationals. TerrySanderson's gailor you know, not Gaylor,
(33:37):
but Travis cooked. Those guys playing, Uh, those guys when you watch
them play, they you know,played so smartly. Lindsay Lindsay Sanderson,
we played played against him in OldWest in British Columbia in seventy would have
(33:58):
been seventy eight. You know,just seeing those guys, and there's probably
a lot more names that I wouldhave been able to give to you,
but those names have just gone bythe wayside. Yeah, okay, what's
your sense of the future for thegame in Nova Scotia. What's your Well,
I'm positive right now in that youknow, the Thunderbirds, they're doing
(34:20):
a lot in the community, They'regetting into the schools. COVID kicked us
in the knee, and to youknow, it was disappointing because we were
I went to one game four thousandpeople, next game five and a half
thousand, next game six thousand,next game eight thousand. The game was
just just taken off and the productis so good. It's you know,
(34:45):
it's the best lacrosse you're going tosee in this country for sure, and
then maybe in the world. Youknow, you have the top players and
the young kids seeing what those guyscan do, it's gonna rub off on
them for sure. As to
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