Life is really opening up for Stephane Charbonneau.
The captain of the Barrie Lakeshore Junior A lacrosse team realizes he has to speak quickly over the phone, while on the job at Johnson’s Residence, a local hotspot run by former Barrie lacrosse star Dustin Leigh (it’s the current incarnation of the former Mansion Night Club on Dunlop Street). But he doesn’t begrudge the time to speak to a local reporter about prospects short-, medium- and long-term.
He has a lot on his mind. To begin with, he’s got a game to play the night after the conversation in Burlington, his mates having pasted the Lakers in Peterborough 10-2 the previous weekend. For sure, he says, there’s lots of energy in that dressing room.
“I’m really excited,” the transition/defenseman tells Barrie Today. “We’ve got a core group of guys who are coming to end of their five years in junior – most of that time in Barrie. In that core, we’ve got Mitchell Goode and Ethan Woods in goal, guys like Brenden Welsh, and Nick Chaykowsky as well as players who are good on transition, others who can put the ball in the net.
“Everyone here can bring something to the table,” he says, shining a spotlight on the whole group.
That’s good news for players and fans of the Lakeshores, who finished a sorry ninth place in the Ontario Junior A lacrosse loop last year. But 2017, says Steph, is a whole new year, and “we believe there’s no team we can’t beat, so long as we show up and play hard.”
Growing up in the Montreal suburb of Pointe Claire, Steph came to the game relatively late – like, at age nine – unlike some of his cohorts who grew up in Ontario and got started sooner. But he likes to think his gradual approach to the game, picking it up as his body grew, has led him to the proficiency he enjoys today. This is his second year here in Simcoe County, his previous junior B career landing him in Akwesasne.
More exciting stuff ahead; after the season is over, he’s highly touted to go early in the National Lacrosse League draft this fall, around the same time as he heads to Lakehead University to satisfy his career goals as a teacher.
“Not being a superstar player,” he says, kind of impedes making lacrosse a full-time endeavour, and, so, “it’s important to have those goals. I’ve always wanted to teach young people, maybe coach lacrosse (in a few years).”
For sure, lacrosse is a dream, and Steph reckons something he can keep with him the rest of his life.
Away from the court, Steph considers himself a pretty “outdoorsy kind of guy, go away to the lake with my family and set foot on the beach.”
Captain Stephane Charbonneau and the rest of his Barrie Lakeshore teammates play their home opener Sunday night, May 28 at 7 p.m. against the Whitby Warriors, at the Innisfil Recreation Centre on Yonge Street. To learn, click here.
