Midget lacrosse player Ty Petersen is finding his services as goalie is in high demand, with two national tournaments coming up this summer, and being picked the Number 1 draft choice for the Junior A team, Saskatchewan S.W.A.T., over the weekend.
The son of Stewart and Annette Petersen, Ty is only in his second year of playing lacrosse after initially playing some football, starting with the Weyburn Thrashers bantam team, moving up to the midget team.
He’s done well enough that the Regina Barracudas midget team has picked him up, and he’s been asked to play for Team Sask in the bantam national championships, coming up on Aug. 9-14 in Saskatoon.
In addition, he’s been asked to also play for the Junior Rush, the junior version of the pro lacrosse team, Saskatchewan Rush. The Junior Rush will be playing in the sixth annual Junior NLL Tournament on Aug. 24-26 in Oakville, Ont.
Asked how he got into the sport of lacrosse, Ty said he first saw a poster inviting players to sign up for lacrosse, and he attended a tryout, finding that he enjoyed the sport a lot.
“I loved it so I kept on doing it,” said Ty, noting that when he attended practices, no one else wanted to be the goalie, so he put on the pads and tried it out.
“Everyone has close to the same role, where in football, every player is different. In lacrosse, you can help each other,” he said.
As he is in the net and can see the play as it unfolds in front of him, he said he acts as a second captain for the defence and can direct them in where to go.
“From the net, you can see where the open spots are so you can tell where to shoot to,” he added.
Ty said he loves the intensity of the games, and admitted that being in net was hard to get used to at first. “After a while, it gets easier,” he said.
Ty has been going up every weekend to Saskatoon to practice with Team Sask, and this past weekend, he attended the draft for the Saskatchewan SWAT (Saskatchewan Will Always Triumph) Junior A, and was the Number 1 draft choice. He will be eligible to play for the team in two years’ time, as he is currently at the midget level.
Looking long-term, Ty said he hopes he will be able to play on the roster of Saskatchewan Rush, the province’s only pro team in lacrosse.
