Four Williams Lake players have been playing for the Quesnel Wildfire lacrosse team in the Cariboo Central Interior Intermediate League.
Riley Lawryk, Benn Taylor, Jesse Wallace-Webb and Brandon Bunce have all suited up for the Wildfire this season which began in early May and will wrap up this weekend.
The Wildfire won the three team league which also featured the Mackenzie Spartans and Prince George Posse, earning the right to represent the north at the B.C. Intermediate Lacrosse Provincials Championships at Minoru Arena in Richmond, B.C. Aug. 1-4.
Quesnel defeated Prince George 15-10 on their home floor in a third and deciding game of their best of three playoff series July 12 and 13.
Quesnel won game one 11-9 and then dropped a close 11-10 decision in game two before clinching the series with a game three win.
Lawryk was on fire in the clinching game three win scoring seven goals while Taylor added two goals and two assists. The Wildfire trailed 7-3 after the first period before outscoring the Posse 12-3 in the second and third periods to earn a trip to provincials. Lawryk also netted seven goals in game one and added five more in game two for a three game series total of 19.
Bunce is the starting goaltender on the Wildfire and led the league with a 6.50 goals against average and also minutes played at 480.
The Wildfire finished atop the regular season standings with a 7-2 win-loss record.
Lawryk was the league’s most dynamic offensive player and had some incredible offensive outputs this season lighting up Mackenzie for eight goals and 11 points in a 24-7 drubbing at the beginning of the season in May. He led the league in scoring averaging nearly five goals per game with 44 goals and six assists for 50 points in just nine games.
Taylor led the league in assists and was third in scoring with eight goals and 25 assists for 33 points.
Both Taylor and Lawryk have also been playing junior lacrosse with the Surrey Stealth. Lawryk joined the team in April and attended Earl Marriot Secondary in Surrey and Taylor joined him in June.
All four lakecity players have been playing lacrosse since the inception of the Bighorns Lacrosse program which started back in 2005. They have all been to previous provincials at various levels including Bantam and Midget. The foursome travel to Quesnel once or twice a week for practices .
“We’ve been to many provincials and finished as high as second but usually we play for third and fourth so we know what to exepct,” said Wallace-Webb.
The Wildfire won the midget C provincial title last year and with the majority of the players back this year they are hoping for similar success.
Quesnel opens the provincials today versus Cowichan Valley at 3 p.m.
The play Coquitlam in game two Saturday at 9 a.m. and wrap up the round-robin portion of the competition against New Westminster at 9 a.m. Sunday. The third and fourth place teams play for bronze and the top two teams play for gold on Monday.
Typically the northern teams don’t fare too well at the provincials but the local boys are hoping they can turn some heads.
“We are not expected to do a lot but you never know what can happen,” says Taylor.