EAGLE MOUNTAIN — Brett Dobson was supposed to be there for a few minutes, but after the starting goalie for the Utah Archers spoke with both teams before Cedar Valley hosted Westlake in a rivalry game, he stayed longer to sign autograph, pose for photos, and shake hands with dozens of children who came up to him wanting a signed stick, shirt or shoe.
For the 26-year-old native of Oshawa, Ontario, this is what growing the game looks like in his new hometown. So when the representatives from the Archers and the Premier Lacrosse League asked if he'd make an appearance Tuesday, he was happy to do it.
More than happy, even.
"A lot of the stuff about growing the game starts at the grassroots level, like going into schools, talking to kids in elementary schools, getting them interested and getting them to a game," said Dobson, who recently moved to Salt Lake City in between stints with his indoor NLL club Georgia Swarm and the PLL's touring model. "Then you go to high schools, and invest in camps and clinics.
"I do think that if you invest at the lower ages, it will pay dividends. Utah is booming with lacrosse, and I'm excited to see where it goes from here."
Lacrosse is still a growing sport in Utah, only three years into the PLL putting "Utah" in front of "Archers LC," and less than a decade since it was first voted to be sanctioned by the Utah High School Activities Association. But in a short time, the state has adopted its own Archers, flooding Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman with orange and blue when the hometown team makes its annual stop on the Wasatch Front.
The game is believed to have arrived in the Utah mountains in 1946, when Notre Dame College in Canada hosted an exhibition game as a fundraiser for the Knights of Columbus youth committee, according to the Utah Lax Report that tracks the sport locally.
This year, the league will come to Utah twice, including opening weekend May 8-9 and second week of the playoff semifinals Sept. 7.
Dobson likely won't play opening weekend due to the Swarm's best-of-three playoff series May 2 and May 9 against Halifax, but he hopes to play in the second. That would mean the two-time PLL champion Archers advance to the league semifinals a year after missing the playoffs in a disappointing final week of the regular season.
In that potential home playoff game of the future, Dobson knows what to expect — something similar to the Utah Mammoth's Game 4 atmosphere at Delta Center. that he attended as a guest of the team.
The Canadian goalie with a long love of hockey — but who had never been to a Stanley Cup Playoff game before Monday — was proud to be on his feet, waving his rally towel and screaming after new friend Michael Carcone scored a goal on four shots "after he missed the open net," he said with a laugh.
"One thing I've learned about Utah is they love their teams, and they're very passionate," said Dobson, who says he's been "converted" to a Mammoth fan. "As a player, that's all we can ask for.
"We understand that we're not only playing for the logo on our front, but for the fans in this state," he added. "And winning a couple of championships helps, right? But whether the Utah Jazz, the Utah Mammoth, or the Archers, Utah is going to show out. They support us through thick and thin."
And when he's back on the ground in his new home after the NLL playoffs and (hopefully, he says) before the Archers' own PLL playoff game, he's excited the new fans who met during the midweek high school match in Eagle Mountain.
"It's pretty cool to see sport grow out here," he said. "Any time I get a chance to come back and talk to high schoolers who want to be professional lacrosse players, it's a good day."
