Moon Township, Pa. – Goaltender
Matt Bukovac enjoys seeing the reaction of his Canadian lacrosse teammates when they first encounter a Primanti Bros. sandwich.
"It's new to them, and it's something that you want them to experience," said Bukovac, a fifth-year senior captain who's gained an appreciation for local fare, despite being from Ashburn, Va. "It definitely surprises some of the guys."
Luke Laszkiewicz, a native of Oshawa, Ontario, was sold on the slaw-and-fries covered concoctions at first sight. His family and friends? Not as much.
"Some of them aren't real crazy about them," he said. "Me? I like them."
Ditto for senior captain
Marshall Gibson, a native of Calgary, Alberta.
"I was surprised to see the tradition of fries on a sandwich," he said. "Surprisingly, I like it."
Sometimes, unconventional ingredients work perfectly together.
Take, for example, this iteration of the Robert Morris lacrosse team. The 48-man roster features 16 players from Canada, the most at the NCAA Division I level.
The combo of U.S. and Canadian-born players has helped the Colonials to fourth place in the Northeast Conference with a 2-2 league record and a 5-7 mark overall.
Robert Morris plays host to first place St. Joseph's at 1 p.m. tomorrow in the penultimate regular-season home game.
Gibson believes the family atmosphere fostered by coach Drew McMinn has generated chemistry and cohesiveness, on and off the field.
"With so many Canadians on the team, we essentially have players coming in from every corner of the two countries," Marshall said. "With so many different backgrounds and viewpoints on life, I believe the players on our team have gained an extra appreciation for the opportunity to play on a team at the Division I level."
RMU's pipeline to Canada began with the inception of the program in 2005. Former coach Bear Davis felt that, even though Canadian players compete in box, or indoor, lacrosse, that they would be able to transition to the outdoor game.
He also smartly realized that there would be little competition for those players because the majority of U.S. colleges were not recruiting north of the border. What's more, Robert Morris is a five to six-hour drive from Ontario.
Davis' first class featured three Canadian players in Jeff Gilbert, Michael Fleming and Andrew Watt. Each was drafted into the National Lacrosse League, with Watt being selected in the first round.
More Canadian players followed in subsequent seasons, eventually making Robert Morris a brand name in the Great White North.
"Originally, our recruiting was done in Ontario," said McMinn, an original member of the coaching staff who took the top job in 2012. "But as our name got stronger, we started to recruit kids out west. We went to British Columbia and Manitoba. It was nice because our name started to spread and the ball kept rolling, enabling us to get more kids from Canada."
Hockey, of course, is the No. 1 sport in Canada, but indoor lacrosse is No. 2. According to McMinn, the Canadian players play a different game stylistically than Americans.
U.S. athletes, he said, rely more on speed to attack offensively. Canadian players, however, are detail-oriented because they play in tighter quarters indoors.
"You see a higher level of stick work, a better skill set with the Canadian players," McMinn said. "Here, a lot of the top athletes just run by you. There's a lot less dependency on the skill side of things."
To that end, RMU's top three scorers hail from Canada, including Laszkiewicz (54 points), sophomore
Adrian Torok-Orban (34) of Toronto, Ontario, and senior
James Rahe (33) of Aldergrove, British Columbia. Three others, including freshman
Eddie Smith (11) of Victoria, B.C., senior
Eric Wales (8) of Burlington, Ontario, and freshman
Tyson Gibson (5) of Maple, Ontario, are among the top nine.
Laszkiewicz scored a school-record eight goals and tied the school single-game mark with nine points in a 15-6 victory over conference foe Canisius Tuesday. His 113 career goals rank third all-time and his 151 points rank fourth. He is three goals shy of moving into the No. 2 spot.
The Colonials, renowned for producing big scoring numbers, rank second in the NEC in assists (75), third in goals (132) and third in points (207). They led NCAA Division I in scoring in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
"I felt comfortable here from day one because the team emulates the style I'm used to playing," senior captain Rahe said. "Box lacrosse is a fast-paced game, which is what we're used to. In field lacrosse, teams have different styles. Some like to slow the pace down. But the nice thing about Robert Morris is that we don't slow it down at all. We make the opponent play to our speed."
Marshall added that Canadian players have a way of catching American-born opponents off-guard.
"The Canadian style is just something that shows up when you see guys make some pretty incredible plays that most people never saw coming," he said. "For example, hidden ball tricks and the token behind the back shots, or around the world shots, are something that some of the players can throw just because of their given skill set from playing box lacrosse growing up in Canada. All around, the two types of play mesh together very well and make for an exciting style of play produced from our team."
Beyond the field, Bukovac said the blending of U.S. and Canadian cultures has provided invaluable lifetime benefits.
"I've learned a lot about Canada, and I hope they've learned a lot about us here," he said. "We've become a family. This has really been a great experience for us all."
