Pacers Player Profile: Blain Adams (Q&A)

Blain Adams is back for his second summer of lacrosse with the Point Edward Pacers after wrapping up his sophomore season with Davenport University.

The graduate of Northern Collegiate scored 18 goals and 24 points in 14 games, helping the Panthers to a 15-1 record last season.

He got his 2017 summer season started on a positive note, scoring three goals and adding three assists in his season debut against London.

Headshot of Blain Adams, member of the Davenport University men's lacrosse team. (Photo from dupanthers.com)

Adams scored 14 goals and 33 points in 12 seasons with the Pacers last year, he has also played for the Jr. A Kitchener-Waterloo Braves in the past as well.

Raised in Corunna, Adams grew up playing minor hockey in Mooretown before playing a couple seasons with the Lambton Jr. Sting 'AAA' program. He retired from competitive hockey during high school to focus on earning a lacrosse scholarship.

Adams is currently taking Business Management at Davenport University, which is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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Q&A with Blain Adams of the Point Edward Pacers:

Blain Adams: Absolutely, I love box lacrosse, the rate of play is just so much faster. Box lacrosse is as fast as the game can get, and then you go to field lacrosse with all that space and you're on the offence for up to two minutes. Both have some similarities, but they're still so different.

JJ: And in box lacrosse you have a much shorter time to get a shot off.

BA: Yes it's way shorter, there's a huge difference between two minutes and 30 seconds. Last year I didn't practice before my first game with the Pacers, so I step on the floor and I was holding onto the ball and not really paying attention, and the whistle went because the 30 seconds were gone, and I was just like 'what the heck happened'? This year I was a bit more prepared for the change.

JJ: So you grew up playing minor lacrosse with the Pacers?

BA: I did, I started playing when I was like six.

JJ: Oh wow, so you've been playing for sometime now, did you grow up playing any other sports?

BA: I played hockey for Mooretown growing up, then played a couple years of 'AAA' with the Lambton Jr Sting. Then I stopped playing hockey in grade 11 when I went to play field lacrosse in London to try and get a scholarship.

JJ: And that's fairly common, when young athletes reach a certain age they sometimes need to decide which sport they want to pursue at the higher level and go all in on that sport.

BA: For me, playing two different sports probably made me better at lacrosse and hockey, a lot of the same skills in both sports, and if you play one sport all the time it starts to feel like a job.

JJ: And looking around the league at some of the rosters, very much like the Pacers, a lot of teams also have guys who were playing high levels of junior hockey during the winter.

BA: We have a bunch of really good hockey players, Josh Barraclough is drafted to the Petes, Cameron Rannie and Jake Vince were young guys playing with the Legionnaires, and Ethan Dupont was the Legionnaires playoff MVP, a lot of really good athletes on this Pacers roster.

JJ: It just goes to show that you have to be a good athlete to play lacrosse.

BA: Absolutely, and I find hockey guys want to play lacrosse as well because it's so rough. Another thing to do in the off season to get punched in the face, I guess (laughs).

Blain Adams mixes is up with Welland's goalie during a game on May 6, 2017. (Photo by Jake Jeffrey)

JJ: Well, that's something you really notice if you go see a game at Point Edward Arena, things happen awfully quick and boy is it physical.

BA: It is, that's also why I love it so much. There is still a lot of honour in playing it. You love your team, and you're playing against people who love their team just as much, and sometimes tempers flair and things just happen.

JJ: To the casual observer it looks pretty violent, but there is a method to your madness out there. For the most part, you're not just slashing the guy for the sake of slashing him, there is a reason you're doing so.

BA: We have really good gear on, especially now as the game keeps growing the equipment is getting more and more protective, t's almost bullet proof. It's the same as hockey, if you hit someone in the head or hit someone dirty, you're going to have to pay the price, and that's how sports should be.

JJ: And for yourself you're a big guy at 6'6", the physicality of box lacrosse is right down your alley, you're able to battle in those tight spaces and use your size to your advantage.

BA: It's one thing that I've only learned to do recently. Three years ago I played Jr A in Kitchener and I was near the bottom of the roster and they really wanted me to mix it up out on the floor and utilize my size. That was when I started to realize how big I am and start using that to my advantage.

JJ: Have you always been a big guy or did you have a late growth spurt?

BA: Well, I've always been tall, and then I grew about five inches in high school. The past two years I've been able to take advantage of some really good trainers with the lacrosse team at school and they helped me get stronger, I was always a skinnier kid but I've been able to add some muscle.

JJ: So you played defense when you were with Kitchener, listed as a Midfield with Davenport University, so are you sort of in that transition role with the Pacers?

BA: I've been playing out the defence door to start the season. We lost Liam Wright last year, he played out the defence door and was one of the best transition players to play for the Pacers the last ten season, so we needed to fill that spot and I'm just trying to do what I can to do so.

JJ: The summer lacrosse season is pretty quick too.

BA: It's crazy, it goes by way too quick it's kind of a bummer. You get really into it, and you get beat up throughout the season and then all of a sudden it's over and you miss it immediately. That's why we need to make the playoffs this year and extend the season.