I’ve known Keith Peer for a long time.
First, as a star centre in high school football, as a goaltender for the Founders Cup Owen Sound Van Dolder Flying Dutchmen in 1993, as a radio announcer. later as a netminder & promoter for the Senior Woodsmen and most recently as the coach & General Manager for the Owen Sound Garb & Gear NorthStars Junior B Lacrosse team, a club that just missed qualifying for the OLA Playoffs.
Through all of these stops, I’ve come to trust his judgement and can say there’s never been a scenario where he hasn’t been accountable.
In an earlier piece, Keith Peer believed the NorthStars failure to make the post season this year came down to a loss on Opening Night.
And I believed him.
However, in my view there were other factors, most of which were exhibited in another loss, this one at home, 13-11 to the Brampton Excelsiors on Sunday June 8th.
The loss that day snapped a 4 game win streak for Owen Sound, coming at the end of a week in which they played 5 times, 4 of which were at home, and had a lineup that was a tad short of offensive punch, missing two vital players who were honouring their commitment to the Crescent Midget Club.
But this is the reality of Junior B Lacrosse at the moment in Owen Sound.
A number of good locally produced players elect to leave the city to play Junior A. Fair enough.
A couple of gifted young players fulfil their obligation to their Midget team.
And a road heavy early season, creates a glut of home games, all mashed into one grinding week.
Keith Peer understands all of these obstacles and typically refuses to use them as excuses, saying his challenge is to rectify those scenarios and produce a winning Junior B program in the future