Flowers to my teammates
It’s Monday already. I’ve got a pile of work to do, this blog to write and I have one day to recover before heading back to the gym. It’s a good life, especially when we are wining like we’ve been lately. The Voyageurs are 3-0-1 since the last 4 games coming out of a 1-0-1 weekend against the Injuns (Tie 10-10) and the Muskies (Win 17-9).
This past weekend was good for our team. We would have obviously liked to come out with tow wins but my point is that our overall effort was very good. We had a ‘’short’’ bench of 15 players for both games and some of guys really played a key role in our success.
I don’t usually mention names apart from our GM our coach or our captain, but I’ve decided to give some credit to some of our unsung heroes. So here’s a little bio of two committed lacrosse players on the Vermont Voyageurs.
Duke Szymanski, a teacher in Newport, Vermont, has been with our team since its foundation. Duke played field lacrosse for St. Lawrence University where he was a long pole defenseman, and successful one at that! For the past 4 years I’ve seen Duke play hard and get better every game and every practice.
He is the kind of player you want on your team because you know he’s going to give you 110% every shift. He’s also a Prague box lacrosse champion as he has played for the Boston Megaman last spring.
Travis Karpak is a sound engineer from Ripton Vermont. He’s been with the Voyageurs for the past 3 years playing for both our junior and senior squads. Travis also played junior for the Onondaga Redhawks, participating in the 2010 Founder’s cup. Karpak is one of the most passionate players I’ve met in my career.
He’s one of the youngest players on our team, meaning he has a bright lacrosse future ahead of him.
It might not have been the most interesting thing to read but sometimes, especially as a goalie, you need to give credit to those who sacrifice a lot to make sure you get the easy save. Most of our guys have gained recognition throughout their lacrosse career but some of our players like Travis and Duke I’ve been in the shadows of more spectacular players and it’s not a bad thing. I think this is somehow part of the reason why they’ve improved so much over the past few years.
I bet every team has players like Duke and Travis. I’m guessing that you can think of some guys on your own teams that are just like them. Make sure you give them a tap behind the back sometimes because we can’t all be goals scorers of ball stoppers. Seeing how well the Montréal Pheonix are doing this season, I’m sure there are plenty of unsung heroes on that team too that have sacrificed a lot to make sure they are where they are now.
If you ever come to one of our game, make sure you say hi to Duke and Travis. They might not be good looking, but they get the job done.
Vince.
