Dan Falloon
It’s a league that started out of optimism the Canadian side of the border could handle a pick-up basketball circuit.
And for 10 years now, Monday nights in the dead of winter have become hoops nights at Fort Frances High School.
“The men that played in this men’s league, we used to play in the International Falls league,” recalled Paul Noonan, who started up the local league in 2000.
“Then we decided we’d start a team over here that comprised of three teams plus the high school senior boys’ team,” he noted.
As the Muskie boys’ coach for 15 years, Noonan had multiple reasons to get a pick-up night set up.
“It was a way for me to get some extra practice time in there for them in a game situation,” he admitted. “The benefit of it is you get to practice in a game situation, whether you want to work on different offences or defences.
“It gets you that opportunity to do that in a somewhat more informal fashion than doing it in a regular game.
“It’s mutually beneficial because we don’t really have enough men to play four teams,” Noonan added. “Otherwise, we’d just have three teams.
“So this works out nice to have four teams and they alternate week-to-week.”
In this week’s action, Boston Pizza thumped Taggs 69-48, with John Sivonen scoring 17 points for the victors.
Jacob MacIntosh netted 16 in a losing cause.
In the early game, the Muskies nearly doubled La Place Rendez-Vous 85-44, with Justin Anderson pumping in 30 points for Fort High.
Cody Brown, on loan from the Muskies, led the Vous with 19.
League organizer Vic Davis Jr. noted this week’s games were a bit of an anomaly, adding the league has been relatively competitive.
Boston Pizza leads the way with a 3-1 mark while the Muskies are bringing up the rear at 1-3 (thanks to a couple of forfeits on days where NorWOSSA action took precedence).
Davis cited the rivalry between Taggs and Boston Pizza, noting Taggs had won the first meeting 65-56 before falling this week.
“You just never know who’s going to win,” said Davis, who plays for the Vous. “There are some really good players.
“I’m just pretty much out there just to stay in shape, and that’s pretty much what our team is,” he added.
“[We’re better] when our American friends come over and help us out.”
Davis explained players generally aren’t new to the game when they join the league, which helps to strike the competitive balance.
“I think everyone’s played some kind of basketball in their life,” he remarked. “When I was in high school, I played and I remember playing against some of the older guys.
“Once the kids graduate from high school, if they stick around here, they end up coming out and playing again.”
Davis joked that as players get older, they enter into a classic battle of mind versus body.
“My mind says I can do more, but yeah, I can’t,” he chuckled. “I turned the ball over about 20 times [Monday] night thinking I could do this or that.
“If I’m lucky, I’ll just score two points a game. Four would be a good day.”
Even though the league revolves around staying active and having fun, Davis credited referees Jerry Parent, John Gibson, and now Noonan with helping it build up some legitimacy.
“It makes a big difference when you’ve got a scoreboard and referees, it makes it a little bit more professional,” he lauded. “It’s a big help.
“If we didn’t have those guys refereeing, it wouldn’t be much of a league, it’d be a bunch of guys shooting around,” Davis reasoned.
