While it’s not a shocker, the alteration of the coaching staff for the Owen Sound Bluewater ProTeam NorthStars did come as a bit of a surprise.
The Junior B Lacrosse club confirmed last week that a trio of Minor Lacrosse coaches, Rodney Tapp, Willi Arnold & Chris Barfoot, will be moving into the coaching position replacing, essentially, the Kazarian Family who had the reins last year.
In 2010, Shawn Kazarian was the head coach of the NorthStars, assisted by his father, Mark, his brother, Bryan & his cousin Mike MacLeod.
Under the Kazarian group, the NorthStars had a very solid season in the always tough MidWest Division, going 11 & 8 with 1 tie.
And while there was a puzzling midseason stumble, the NorthStars made a hard push at the end of season, made the playoffs but lost in 5 games to the Windsor Clippers.
Not bad for the first year under Shawn Kazarian.
However, Kazarian elected not to return to the club and the Tapp-Arnold-Barfoot trio, who were serious candidates to coach the team a year ago, will make the natural progression from Minor Lacrosse, where they have coached many of the NorthStars present and future.
Tryouts for Junior B Lacrosse are 4 months away, the season 5 months away, but the Owen Sound Bluewater ProTeam NorthStars have their organizational house in order months in advance.
I’m Fred Wallace