As a learning exercise, Tuesday’s B.C. junior A lacrosse exhibition game gave New Westminster’s new coach Todd Stockdale a glimpse into the future.
A big part of that future is a year or more away.
New West dressed a lineup heavy in intermediate-aged players, with six expected starters in the stands and six more still at university and college.
While that may make an 8-6 loss to the Lakers understandable, Stockdale still wasn’t accepting it.
“I didn’t like the end result, but we’re learning things about our team,” said Stockdale following the game.
“This was a very young roster and they showed all those attributes -- lots of energy, speed and enthusiasm. What we lacked was cohesion, patience... This isn’t the lineup we’ll have when the season starts.”
New West trailed 5-2 after 20 minutes but closed the gap over the next period, tying it up 44 seconds into the third period.
But Burnaby, which were missing nearly 10 players from their projected season-starting roster, got four goals from Kyle Heiling, a 20-year-old who played junior B last year, and a 52-save performance from first-year junior Thomas Hankins to take the win.
For Stockdale, training camp has been all about learning -- working with the intermediate program to implement strategies and implementing a fitness level to give the players a foundation in which to out-last the competition.
He admits one of his biggest challenges has been just getting to know the players.
“I think the toughest thing at the start is just learning everyone’s name,” he said, smiling. “It’s not just the juniors, we’re working with the intermediates too... You talk to them with their helmets on then when you see them without their helmet it’s different.
“One of the guys shaved (his beard off) and I was like, ‘Who’s that?’”
Among the newcomers was a 20-year-old walk-on from Denver, Max Abbott, who scored once.
New West opens the regular season May 3 against PoCo.
