Three local lacrosse players received the opportunity to represent their province last week.

Atley Calvert, Kayde Shymko and Kael Nichols suited up with Team Saskatchewan at the 2017 Canadian Bantam Lacrosse Championship in Saskatoon, helping the team to a sixth place finish.

“It was a pretty great experience, I got to meet a lot of good kids from around the province, we played a lot of really good teams and overall great experience of representing our province and we did that well,” said Calvert.

Saskatchewan finished the tournament with a 4-2 loss to Team Nova Scotia in the B side final last Friday.

The ended up with a 3-6 record overall.

“There’s a lot of pressure on you, but we did really well with it and made a good example of ourselves and overall it was just a great experience,” said Shymko.

Calvert finished second on Team Sask in scoring with four goals and seven points in nine games.

He said he’s coming away happy with how he was able to play throughout the tournament.

“I felt pretty good about myself, there was a few games when I was off, but I came right back with a strong game in the next one,” said Calvert.

“Going against the best players in the country really challenged me a lot because you play teams like Ontario and B.C. and they definitely put everyone to the test.”

Unfortunately for Shymko and Nichols, they both had their tournaments cut short with injuries.

“It was really hard on me not being able to be out there with the team,” said Shymko, who added that he did his best to help the team in other ways by cheering them on throughout the rest of the tournament.

Nichols finished with two goals and three points in three games, while Shymko was held without a point in two games.

Nichols said the tournament was a great learning experience, “You got to play at a high level against some talented players,” he said.

The three players all said it was great to go through this experience together.

“I’m really happy to share this experience together,” said Calvert. “It was fun.”

More local lacrosse players are taking part in nationals this week with six Moose Jaw players on Team Saskatchewan at the Peewee Nationals in Whitby, ON.