He never played the sport, but Paul Beugeling loves lacrosse.
Beugeling, from Vernon, is an avid supporter of the Vernon Sun Valley Source For Sports Tigers of the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League, responsible for the team’s web page, the TOJLL web page and the team’s Twitter account.
Beugeling was honoured by the league with the Presidents Award for an ongoing commitment to the game and supporting the league as the TOJLL handed out its year-end honours in Kelowna.
“Paul can be found cheering loudly at all of our home games and even travels to watch them play on the road,” said Tigers director Duane Barr.
“He has been following the league since its inception (2000) and has done all the work creating and maintaining the TOJLL Wikipedia page.”
Beugeling, who just celebrated his 62nd birthday, was joined on the awards stage by players Jake Pelletier and Ethan Anderson.
Pelletier was named the league’s rookie of the year, to go along with the team honour he picked up, after leading all rookies with 24 goals and 21 assists for 45 points during regular season play.
“I’ve said it before, with guys like Jake, the future is bright for this lacrosse club,” said Tigers head coach Chris Scabar.
Ethan Anderson was named co-winner of the the league’s top defensive player honour with Brady Georget of the Kamloops Venom.
“Ethan was a key defensive player for our team and provided tons of entertainment in the form of aggressive play and hard hits during the season,” said Scabar.
Anderson was selected to play with the provincial champion Coquitlam Adanacs during their run at the national Junior B championship in Orangeville, Ont.
Kaid MacLeod of the South Okanagan Flames was named the league’s most valuable player.
Riley Peterson of Kamloops was the top scorer while teammate Matt Hans was named top goalie.
Coach of the Year is Kevin Thompson of South Okanagan while April Thompson of the Flames was chosen as Executive of the year.
Official of the Year is Steve DeShane.