Remembering your past is a key part of building for the future. The Moose Jaw Lacrosse Association (MJLA) is doing that with the unveiling of their new trophy case at the Kinsmen Sportsplex this weekend.

Filled with trophies, team photos, memorabilia, newspaper articles and more, the case was put together to honour the sport's history and future in the city.

"There's a lot of memories in there," said Cody Nidesh, MJLA President.

A big section of the case is dedicated to Ken Stewart and Christopher Sauder, two local lacrosse players that passed away within a month of each other in 2013.

Members of both families were on hand for the unveiling and played a part in helping put it together with Nidesh crediting Sauder's mother, Leanne Dalgarno with providing the donation that sparked the work towards the new case.

"It's to honour their families," said Nidesh. "It's to honour everybody within the organization."

Ken Stewart's father Barry Stewart was a long-time coach within the organization and he said it was great to see the history being honoured.

"There's a lot of history in this city and organizations that lose their history generally lose their way, so I'm really happy to see the entire thing," said Stewart. "It's awfully nice to see them honour our son like this, it's always been a class organization and it continues to be."

Work on the case started four years ago and the finishing touches have been put on the case over the past few months, including lights and memorabilia. Around 20 individuals from the organization played a part in the building and collecting of artifacts and memorabilia, including a section honouring Moose Jaw professional lacrosse player David Mitchell.

"Derek [Burns] was contacting his former coaches, parents of players that he played with," said Nidesh. "This has been going on since November, just reaching out people, grabbing stuff [and planning], it's been a long process."

While the case honours the past, it's also about recognizing the present with the debut of the Steve Michaluk Player of the Year award, along with the Chris Sauder Memorial Award and the Ken Stewart Memorial Scholarship. A section recognizing the achievements of recent program graduate Quinn Ingalls is in the works as well.

Lacrosse continues to see strong numbers in Moose Jaw and Nidesh said they want to see that continue.

"Last year, we had about 15 Midget kids and we're up to about 22; 22 for Bantam; we’ve got 30 in Peewee, so we have two Peewee teams which we haven't had in a long time; 30 in Novice, so we're down a couple in Novice but we still have two teams, and Mini-Tyke and Tyke, our numbers are strong," said Nidesh.

The winning culture helps as well, "There's a lot of championships, so the kids get involved, they fall in love," added Nidesh.

The 2019 lacrosse season started for Moose Jaw with gold medal wins by the Bantam and Midget Mustangs in Swift Current. Check back on Tuesday for more on the strong start to the season.