Season openers cancelled, as field lacrosse feels icy weather

April 17, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart
One would think that the middle of April would be about the right time to start some outdoor sports.
Field lacrosse traditionally gets underway around the second week of April, after the teams shake off the dust of indoor winter training and finally get back outside to play in the open air.
This year, the late spring and longer winter has already caused some havoc on sports fields.
The Caledon Bandits field lacrosse teams were slated to start the spring season Saturday, but the ice storm that hit southern Ontario Friday caused some games to be cancelled.
“Some of the games have been cancelled due to weather, but our peewee team will play in Guelph at the University and the novices play in Kitchener at Woodside Park,” said Bandits’ field director Toby Rasmussen.
The U9 rep team had their game cancelled when the Waterloo Alumni Field pulled all their permits due to the weather.
Mississauga also cancelled all games and restricted access to fields due to the weather, forcing some games in the league to be moved to other locations.
Although it can be disappointing, cancelling games in early spring due to soggy fields is not unusual.
Many municipal parks and recreation departments, as well as district school boards, will keep an eye on conditions, if for some reason a sports field just doesn’t dry up in time for the start of action — most notably field lacrosse, soccer and spring league football.
If they think damage will occur to the field due to the ground being soggy, they will pull the plug on field activity until it dries up enough that it is considered safe to have 20 or 30 players in cleats running around the surface.
The season may be delayed for some divisions, but the teams should be back in action by next week.
The Bandits have a full line-up of field and box lacrosse teams that will be playing through the spring and summer.