Cranbrook’s Dakota Hollister returned from field lacrosse provincials in Victoria last weekend with a pair of MVP awards, a silver medal and an invitation to move to Kamloops.

Hollister plans to take up that offer this spring, knowing he already has a place to stay while playing the indoor game with the Kamloops A1 Rattlers.

“One of the kids on our team that I just met this week asked me to (billet) with him,” said Hollister.

He would thus follow in the footsteps of older brother Keiffer, who played midget box lacrosse for the Rattlers last season and thrived in the billet situation.

“He said it’s pretty much like having another family,” noted Dakota, who’s been on the other end of the billeting arrangement: his family is currently giving Kootenay Ice defenceman Joey Leach a home away from home.

Last weekend, Hollister represented the Rattlers organization on the field, helping them enter the final undefeated.

Kamloops opened with wins over Coquitlam, Mid Island (a 10-9 squeaker) and Port Coquitlam. They dumped Fraser Valley 11-5 in the crossover game.

That set up a rematch finale against Mid Island, who took advantage of Kamloops’s defensive lapses to win 13-6.

While Hollister was disappointed to have to settle for silver, he said it was nice to be named most valuable player in the last two games.

“I’d never played in that part of the Island before so I had no clue what the teams were going to be like or anything,” he said.

The Rattlers themselves could have also been considered an unknown quantity for the 14-year-old, except for the four field games he’d played with them in Seattle back in December.

Hollister said there was no problem getting reacquainted.

“I walked into the hotel, and they all knew me pretty good,” he said.

He mostly played midfield for the Rattlers last weekend. Although he’s used to sniping in goals, he came out with a bunch of assists.

“If we were losing and we really needed a goal, (the coach) would put me on attack and I just waited for the ball and scored,” he said.

“I haven’t played box lacrosse for a while because field’s the only thing I’ve had lately so I like it. I think I might like field a little more. If you’re attacker or defenceman you can sit there and do nothing, and just wait for the ball to come to you.”

There is currently no outlet for playing field lacrosse in Cranbrook; Hollister and Tanner Rennich joined a touring side out of Calgary that visited the eastern United States late last fall, playing against high school teams.

Hollister said that experience helped prepare him to face B.C.’s best 14-year-olds last weekend.

‘Before I was playing with people that were better and older than me, so going to provincials it was way easier,” he said.

Rennich and Hollister hope to tap into that experience again March 6 when they travel to Salmon Arm for interior tryouts for Team B.C.