Debbie, Arron, Tyler, Katlyn, Brianna & Family

As we sit here in New Jersey our hearts are heavy with your loss and we feel we are missing an important event for a member of our team. Peter’s battle with cancer has been courageous and inspirational, his outlook on life and his will to fight has only inspired all of us to higher and better places. Peter was a huge supporter of our organization and we will miss the road trips, the spits and the Slurpees on the sidelines of our practices and games. Sorry we were unable to be there in person to celebrate Peter’s life but he is in our heart and spirit as we go out on the field. Our team has put a PH on their helmets and calves to honor Peter and to dedicate our trip and tournament to him and his memory. We, as a team, have promised to fight hard to win every little battle, just as Peter would.

God Bless

Razorbacks Lacrosse Club

The Edmonton Razorbacks Field Lacrosse Club is pleased to announce their summer tournament schedule. The club will be completing the third year of their initial club plan by traveling to some excellent Eastern US tournaments to compete with the best in the North America. The Razorbacks will have a Varsity, Junior Varsity and U14 team competing in the Tri-Lax Summer Festival (trilax.com) from July 10-14. This tournament will be held in Princeton, New Jersey at the Mercer County Park. All three teams are working hard to prepare for the competition. The club will then be sending a Varsity and U14 team to the Sweet Laxin Festival (sweetlaxin.com) during the weekend of July 19-20. The teams have many other activities planned for the 10 days of travel including a trip to Baltimore to see the US Lacrosse hall of fame. A Trip to New York City and a number of exhibition games against True North lacrosse (truenorthlacrosse.com).

TRYOUT PROCESS - SEARCH FOR THE TOP 30
(Midget (U16) Born in 1992 or 1993) (Junior (U19) Born in 1989 to 1991)
Monday May 19 18:00 to 20:00 Field Evaluations
Tuesday May 20 18:00 to 20:00 Field Evaluations
Wednesday May 21 18:00 to 20:00 Field Evaluations
Sunday May 25 18:00 to 20:00 Field Evaluations
Monday May 26 18:00 to 20:00 Field Evaluations
Tuesday May 27 18:00 to 20:00 Field Evaluations
Player Requirements:
* Register for Team Try-outs prior to first session on May 19/08 (17:30).
* Players must pay a non-refundable $40 try-out fee.
* Players must attend 3 out of the 6-scheduled field evaluation sessions to be eligible.
Information:
If you have any questions or would like more information you can email one of the following:
Russ Sheppard russ@edmontonrazorbacks.com
Lisa Smith ala_lax@telus.net
Donna Hagstrom edmlax@telus.net

The Razorbacks lacrosse club were very excited to host Brodie Merrill for an information session with Parents. Brodie discussed some of the in's and out's of going to play in the NCAA and also discussed the process of attending the Hill Academy. The Hill Academy is a College Prep School that the Merrill's run in Ontario. Current Razorback athletes AJ Pellis, Travis Comeau and Nils Thompson all attend the Hill Academy.

All three of the Edmonton Razorbacks lacrosse teams are currently involved in off season training. On Sundays our athletes meet at Vimy Ridge Academy to participate in strength and conditioning training. On Monday nights our teams meet at the Kinsmen Field House to participate in systems training. Our staff and athletes are very focused on gaining a competitive edge as we enter the 2008 lacrosse season.

In February the Alberta Field Lacrosse Committee accepted a proposal from the GELC to host a GELC all star team for the upcoming nationals that the Razorbacks are hosting. Any athlete within the GELC is able to try-out for the team and participate if chosen. Please check back to the website periodically to get important try-out information.

On Sunday January 27th @ 1PM at Vimy Ridge Academy (Room 218). This meeting is very important as it will inform people of the major changes that will be happening the Razorbacks program in 2008/09.

This week marks the beginning of the 2008 Season for the Edmonton Razorbacks lacrosse club. After a very successful 2007 season the Razorabcks club will begin off-season winter training. This training will consist of Sunday afternoon workout sessions at Vimy Ridge Academy (2:30PM to 4:00PM) and also Monday night sessions at the Kinsmen Field House (9:00 to 10:30).

The Edmonton Razorbacks are holding a Silent Auction fundraiser on January 26 at Brooklyn's Pub. Please contact Carolyn Olson (colson@una.ab.ca) if you have any items you wish to donate. Tickets are $5 dollars and include a free drink ticket.

The newly formed AFLL held its first annual championship weekend in Edmonton this past weekend. Going into the weekend our Razorbacks had a 4-2 record and were sitting in second place. On Saturday the Silver and Gold went 3-0 and beat Calgary, who was previously undefeated, 10-7. That night saw three razorbacks players get first team all star awards. Greg Bourret, who lead the entire league in points, was named to the All star attack squad. Chris Britton, who is an excellent two way midfielder and draw man was named first team all star, and Matt Pick was named as an all star longpole.

On Sunday the razorbacks needed to go 2-0 to bring home the Teewarathon Cup and that's just what they did. In the Semi Final the 'Backs beat a much improved Triads team with a very strong fourth quarter 13-8. With the win the Razorbacks set up a championship final with Calgary. The 'Backs came out to a slow start, getting behind 3-0 early. Greg Bourret then got the team going with a goal at the 13 minute mark of the first quarter. The Razorbacks never looked back and took the game to Calgary, finishing with a 15-11 victory. Quarter Scores were 4-3 razorabcks after 1, 8-4 Razorbacks at the half, 11-7 after 3 and the 15-11 final. Mitch McAvoy had a particularly strong game as well as matt Mackenzie on draws. Congratulations to all of the Razorabcks athletes on a very successful 2007 season.

Kirby Zdrill and Matt Mackenzie will spend thanksgiving giving weekend working hard to achieve a dream, to represent their country. Both of these Razorbacks athletes have been invited to attend Main Camp in BC after participating in the Saskatchewan regional Camp on September 15. Good luck to the boys and we are sure they work as hard as possible!

AJ Pellis recently moved to Ontario after being accepted into the Hill Academy, a focused Prep School for top lacrosse athletes. AJ is joining Nils Thompson and Kirby Zdrill as other Razorback athletes that have traveled to prep schools to help improve their skills and academic standing.

Razorback attackman Greg Bourret is lighting up the AFLL with 42 points in 6 games. Greg has shown some major signs of development in the past year and has now solidified his spot as a go to guy for the Razorbacks U17 squad. The AFLL is a recently formed Field lacrosse league in Alberta that consists of teams from Red Deer, Calgary and also the Edmonton Triads. The razorabcks currently rank second in the league with a 4-2 record. This upcoming weekend will see Edmonton host the Championship weekend, good luck to our boys in hopefully bringing back the league championship.

As the 2007 season comes to an end the Razorbacks lacrosse club would like to congratulate two of its U19 athletes on their recent graduation. Ken Kaminski-Raab and Kyle Aviak played for the Razorbacks throughout the 2007 season and were both team captains. These athletes now age out of their playing days but will hopefully become key coaches with the program in the near future. Ken Kaminski was a crafty attackman that had a work ethic second to none. He has a great inside stick and was able to use his tremendous speed and agility to lose his defenders and push the net. Kyle Aviak brought a wealth of field experience to our program. He was a quick midfielder with a widely feared outside shot. Congrats to both players on great U19 careers and good luck in the future.

The Razorbacks Lacrosse Club would like to congratulate Kirby Zdrill and Nils Thompson for their recent departure to two of the top prep schools in North America. Nils is attending The Hill Academy (thehillacademy.com) in Ontario for the 2007/08 school year as a post graduate student athlete. He is playing both Hockey and Lacrosse at The Hill and is in goods hands with the likes of Patrick and Brodie Merrill to guide and push him to the next level. Kirby is returning to Westminster Prep school (www.westminster-school.org) for his second year. He was named to Summus (outstanding academic award) last year and in his rookie season secured a spot on the varsity team for lacrosse. The razorbacks lacrosse club wishes both of these student athletes good luck and is confident they will reach their ultimate goals.

Congratulations to Dallas Smith and Carson Snaychuk for playing at the Alumni Cup national championship this past weekend in Kitchener Waterloo. Both of these players represented the club in excellent fashion and contributed in any way possible. Carson established himself as a hard working two way midfielder that would do anything to contribute to the team and Dallas was the second leading scorer on the Team Alberta for the tournament. Great job boys!!

The Canadian Lacrosse Association has accepted the Edmonton Razorbacks bid to host the First Nations and Alumni Cup in 2008. The tournament will be held in Edmonton at the Ellerslie Rugby club and will be hosted on the traditional Labour Day weekend. These are two of 5 national championships that will be hosted in Alberta in 2008 (Minto Cup, Presidents Cup, and the New Midget Nationals). Keep checking our website for updates involving the Alumni and First Nations tournaments.

The Edmonton razorbacks have formed a partnership with the Lacrosse Program (www.thelacrosseprogram.com) at Vimy Ridge Academy (vimyridge.epsb.ca). This partnership, although just developing, provides a great link between academics and athletics. The lacrosse program and The Edmonton razorbacks have similar objectives which include assisting our athletes reach the highest goals possible, and providing detailed training for lacrosse athletes. We look forward to developing this relationship further in the future.

The Edmonton Razorbacks have assisted the start up of a U13 program, the Edmonton Ballhogs. This team will be used as a feeder program and is focused on teaching field lacrosse to players under the age of 13. Paul Rai will be the head coach of this team and is holding practices at Vimy Ridge Academy. For more information contact Paul at prai@thelacrosseprogram.com.

This year the Edmonton razorbacks will be attending the Temecula Shoot Out in California. This tourney will be held from July 17-21 and is our teams focal point of the 2007 season. We will be taking both the U16 and U19 team to Temecula, which is located 60 miles South East of Los Angeles. This tournament will be an excellent opportunity for our club to grow and an even better opportunity to expose our athletes to the world of field lacrosse.

All team communication will now go through our website. All players or parents will be able to check updates on team happenings. You will be able to also check on the status of our practices up to one hour before the scheduled practice time. This will ensure that all players are kept up to date no matter what the weather.

The Edmonton Razorbacks Lacrosse Club has recently launched its website www.edmontonrazorbacks.com. The website will be used as a means of communication within the club as well as a way of communicating with other clubs throughout Canada and North America on the happenings of the 'Backs. Our website will be much more interactive as our season develops, check back for updates.