Big Guy Lake fishing for success in Winnipeg
Big Guy Lake, if it really existed, might be a nice place to cool off to get out of the heat this weekend in Winnipeg.
The thermometer is expected to climb well into the low-30s C all weekend and that hot sun will be beating down with no relief in sight for 58 fastball teams gathered for the Canadian Native Fastball Championships.
The Big Guy Lake Kings, a Prince George select team that hosted the event in 2015 at Spruce City Stadium, is one of the favourites to win the A-division men’s tournament, which has 21 teams entered.
The Kings are backed by veteran pitcher Norm Linton, who allowed just two runs Tuesday night to lead All-Star Construction to an 11-2 win over Falcon Contracting in the Spruce City Men’s Fastball League championship game.
All-Star scored 11 runs on 13 hits.
The Big Guy Lake roster spans two generations, and also includes veterans Randy Potskin, Chad Ghostkeeper, Evan Potskin, all of Prince George, as well as lefthanded pitcher Scott Leiph of Sooke and infielder Eli Jules of Chase.
That older group, without the out-of-town pickups, has played together at native tournaments for more than two decades and formed the core of the Prince George Lumber Kings/River Kings teams that, in a long string of success that began in 1993, won eight national native titles (seven straight from 19992006) and seven North American indigenous crowns.
The younger Kings played together two years ago on the Prince George Lenny’s Selects squad which won the junior native championship in Edmonton.
That group includes locals Nicholas Potskin, Jerrett Potskin, Robbie Antoine, Jericho Prince, Brendan Hammell, Shelby Tom and John Alec, as well as pitcher Josh Anderson of Vancouver and Ethan Lans of Chase.
“We’ve got a young group but we have five old vets on the team,” said Kings manager Sheldon Bjorklund. “Eli Jules is from Chase but he played for Westbank the last few years and they’ve won championships. He’s probably won about 13 titles.”
The Kings play their first game in Winnipeg today at noon PT against the winner of a morning game between two Manitoba squads – Peguis Chefs and Sapataywak Jays.
“You think you’ve put a winner together but there’s lots of scenarios,” said Bjorklund.
“The trick is to stay on the A-side of the tournament as long as you can because if you get on that B-side you’ve got along ways back.
“Of the top 10 teams there, four of them will play each other in the first couple games.”
The Westbank Cardinals are the defending champions.