Lax In The Pines a big hit

The first edition of the Lax In The Pines tournament in Kanesatake was a very successful one, with more than 650 going to the Kanehsatake Lacrosse Box for a full day of Masters-style outdoors box lacrosse on Saturday.

“We needed this, it brought everyone together for a day and you could tell everyone was in good spirits during and after the tournament, exactly what the medicine is for,” said organizer Vincent Cree, who also took part as a player with the tournament-winning Riverside Snappers.

Cree said that as a “test-run,” for the possibility of an annual tournament, it went very smoothly.

“It almost felt like it’s been going for a couple years,” said Cree.

“Everyone who showed up had a good time, we only received positive comments about the event: the music, the food, the organization of the event, the setup, everything was on point.”

Along with the lacrosse was some barbecue, as well as vendors like Rezican Tacos and Quench It Drinks.

With the popularity of lacrosse growing amongst Kanesatake’s youth, Cree said having a yearly tournament can help reinvigorate the medicine game for everyone else, too.

“It felt like the right time to do it,” said Cree, who added that the tournament was 16+ to allow young and old to participate.

Seven teams took part in the tournament - it was originally supposed to be eight teams, but one backed out 24 hours before the tournament, Cree said.

Among those teams were some from Kahnawake and Akwesasne.

“Having other communities show up is important for me, because it’s our game and personally, I feel like the game is played differently when Native teams are playing than when you play other teams,” said Cree.

“No matter where they’re from, there’s just a little something special about it, probably because we share a different connection to the game and most of us grew up with a stick in our hands.”

The tournament followed a round robin format, with the first game starting at 9 a.m. and the 14th and last game before the semifinals starting around 7 p.m.

Playing that much lacrosse in so little time is a daunting endeavour, but one that was successful.

“We were able to follow the schedule we made, most games were right on time with no delays,” said Cree.

The top four teams made the semifinals, with the number one seed Kahnawake Lacrosse (4-0) defeating the number four seed Akwesasne Mann’s Wolfpack (2-2) by a score of 4-3. The number two seed Snappers (3-1) took down the number three seed Kahnawake Sturgeon Bellies (3-1) 12-3.

The Snappers met Kahnawake in a finals game to remember, as rain started to fall heavily during the game.

“Playing in the rain is something I’m kind of used to, I played some field lacrosse a couple years ago and we played rain or shine,” said Cree.

“It does affect the way you play a lot; the shaft of the stick is slippery, and it doesn’t shoot or throw the same when your mesh is wet.”

The Snappers avenged their only round robin loss of the tournament by beating Kahnawake 7-5.

“I’m not going to lie, that felt really good,” said Cree of beating Kahnawake in their rematch.

“The weather conditions during the final game made it just epic. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending for the Riverside Snappers.”

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