‘It just made sense’: Evans to play senior-B lacrosse in Saskatchewan
The 37-year-old future Hall of Famer has signed to play for the Standing Buffalo Fighting Sioux
Shawn Evans retired from the National Lacrosse League last year but he’s not done playing entirely.
The 37-year-old future Hall of Famer has signed to play for the Standing Buffalo Fighting Sioux of the Saskatchewan senior-B league this season.
He’ll be joining former Peterborough Century 21 Lakers teammate Curtis Dickson and former Calgary Roughnecks teammate Jeff Shatler, who is putting the Sioux team together.
Evans, who played for the Akwesasne Bucks last season after a falling out with his hometown Peterborough Century 21 Lakers, said he knows he’s near the end of his career and he had hoped to finish it with the Lakers.
He’s had conversations with Lakers head coach and general manager Mike Hasen and said he got the impression the Lakers’ executive was not entirely open to his return and the Sioux club offered him a schedule that works for his family, employment — he’s a special constable with the Peterborough police — and coaching commitments.
He is coaching his son’s minor lacrosse team and is also coach of Switzerland’s national box lacrosse team, which will play at the World Lacrosse Championship in Utica, N.Y., in September.
Evans will fly to Saskatchewan to play one weekend in May and not again until the President’s Cup national senior-B championship, which goes Aug. 25-31 in Delta, B.C.
Hasen said the Lakers’ executive was open to Evans returning if the coaches wanted him. Hasen said he told Evans they would welcome him back only if he could commit to the same schedule they are asking all their other players to commit to. Players must play at least six of the 12 regular-season games to qualify for the MSL playoffs, but Hasen said they want a greater commitment than they had last year.
“We don’t want to have a different lineup every night until the second game of the playoffs,” said Hasen. “We want to try to floor the best team we can every night.”
Hasen said it was left with Evans to make his choice.
Evans said he still hopes to finish his career as a Laker, but right now the Fighting Sioux schedule works better for him.
“The reason I chose to go there and not go back to where I was last year is because I’m busy coaching my kids lacrosse with the U7 paperweight team and I’m coaching Team Switzerland, where I have to head to Prague in two weeks, and most of August I’m in Switzerland so I wouldn’t be able to commit,” said Evans.
“The Sioux offered me a position where I only have to go out there for the President’s Cup and one weekend, May 4 to 6, and play a couple of games,” Evans added.
“There is less commitment going (to Saskatchewan). I can do everything I want to family-wise, coach and be where I need to be with my family and just go play for 10 days in B.C.”
The Sioux is going to pay him similar to what he made with Akwesasne to play five regular-season and seven playoff games last year. The Bucks, coached by Peterborough’s Jamie Batley, lost in their league final to Snake Island, which went on to play at the President’s Cup in Oakville.
“For what they needed me for, I didn’t have to commit to a whole lot of my time, which made sense,” Evans said.
“It allows me to give my full commitment to the U7 paperweight team and my son and my daughters, who are playing field lacrosse, and allowed me the opportunity to give back to them after playing so long and being away from them for so long,” Evans added.
“It just made sense where I can do a little bit of both. It gets harder and harder the more you are away from the game.”