By Martin Cleary
Bruce Allen walked away from box lacrosse with the Gloucester Griffins at 11 years old, following a few concussions.
But that didn’t stop him from continuing to go to city arenas, as his early interest in physical activity diverted to Canada’s national winter sport, hockey, from Canada’s national summer sport, lacrosse.
He played hockey for five seasons, reaching the AAA level with the U13 and U14 Upper Canada Cyclones. A broken arm put a damper on his U15AA season and he left the game at 16.
But late in his minor hockey career, the topic of lacrosse returned to his conversation.
When he was in Grade 9 at Merivale High School, teacher/coach Ian Garrison approached Allen and asked if he would like to attend a tryout for the 2023 edition of the Marauders’ field lacrosse team.
Well, that caught him by surprise. But he didn’t dismiss that opportunity, carefully thought it out and showed up for the first tryout session.
“I hadn’t picked up a stick in a long time. I thought I would give it a try,” Allen said in a phone interview. “I fell in love again with lacrosse. I was rusty in the first practice, but became the first Grade 9 starter.”
Field lacrosse had recently returned to Merivale under the direction of Garrison, who has a wealth of knowledge and experience in all aspects of lacrosse. In the Marauders’ first year back on the field, they won the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association Tier 2 title and Allen’s brother Everett was captain of that squad.
Everett encouraged his younger brother to attend the tryouts “to give it a shot.” He sweetened the offer by giving Allen his stick.
For four straight years, Allen was one of the foundations of an emerging NCSSAA field lacrosse powerhouse. He was named Merivale’s field lacrosse MVP for the past three seasons (2024 through 2026).
During his high school career, Merivale made the NCSSAA final, semifinals and semifinals from 2023 through 2025 respectively, which all led to the Marauders’ crescendo moment, when they became the first Ottawa high school team to win a medal at the OFSAA field lacrosse championships earlier this month.
After posting dominant wins in its two round-robin games and outscoring a highly talented Orangeville team, Merivale earned the silver medal at the AAA level, following a 13-5 loss to Brooklin, which recorded its third consecutive OFSAA title.
Allen was a co-leader for most goals at the OFSAA championship with 14 and second in total points at 15.
It was Merivale’s first loss this season, after winning the NCSSAA regular season OFSAA-division pennant at 6-0 as well as two playoff games for the city championship and a long-awaited berth at the OFSAA tournament.
Garrison was impressed by the Marauders’ season, especially the final. He said the team’s silver medal was the equivalent of a gold medal in his eyes.
At five feet, nine inches, Allen is a fireplug, fast, agile, gritty, unselfish and diverse. As captain, he loves to pass, tackle on-field challenges and show leadership, relaying plays from the coach to his teammates.
But there was an underlying theme that ran through the entire team this season – absolute commitment to winning the NCSSAA title and chasing a medal at OFSAA. And they did it in a most unconventional way.
When the Marauders’ season started in January, practices were held twice a week from 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. in the school’s gymnasium. The players were keen, never missed a practice and even showed up earlier than scheduled.
“We’d bang on the (school) door at 5:30 a.m. and became good friends with the janitor,” explained Allen, who along with his teammates didn’t mind the freezing cold winter temperatures and early morning darkness.
Allen made it easier for some of the players by picking them up in a car on his way to school. By getting to the school at 5:30 a.m., the players could pass and shoot the ball for 30 minutes before the official practice.
After his second year with the Marauders, Allen and some teammates bought a lacrosse net and used it for target practice, after doing their homework assignments. They would go to Steve MacLean Public School for a couple of hours of “wall ball.”
Getting up extra early for practices in the dead of winter is one thing, but practising outside in bitter cold is another wild aspect of their game.
“There was one time, it was minus 30°C and we were bored. We went to the elementary school from 10 p.m. to midnight. We were all freezing. We wanted to play and pass the ball,” said Allen about the team’s constant thirst to play the game.
He labelled the Marauders’ 2026 season amazing.
“From basically the time we picked up the sticks, we needed to do a lot of work,” Allen said. “The effort had to be three. We had to hit the weight room. It was such a cool moment to see all the players develop as one.”
He was especially pleased and proud to see newcomers to the sport work their way onto the lineup and into roles as starters.
“It felt so surreal, felt good to see how far the team has come,” added Allen, who plays community lacrosse for the Ottawa Capitals.
An honour roll student at Merivale, Allen plans to attend Dalhousie University in Halifax in September to study e-commerce.
But his schedule also will include some field lacrosse. Dalhousie has a club team in the Maritime University Field Lacrosse League. The Tigers had a 6-4 regular-season record in 2025 and reached the championship game, losing 11-5 to St. Francis Xavier X-Men.
Allen also is planning to ramp up his lacrosse game and hopes to catch the attention of NCAA Division 1 coaches and scouts in the future. His game plan is to send out more films of his play, attend various showcases to present his skills and connect with Garrison’s contacts for a possible scholarship opportunity.
“It would be such an accomplishment for all the time and effort I’ve put into it,” Allen said about being offered an athletic scholarship for field lacrosse.
At the OFSAA field lacrosse championships, NCAA teams took notice of Allen’s all-around play and Garrison couldn’t be happier.
“He’s the straw that stirs our drink,” Garrison said. “He’s built muscular with the heart of a lion. Watching videos, he goes against anyone one-on-one. He’s a huge piece of our puzzle. At school, he’s the guy who gets everyone going.”
Read More of our 2026 High School Best Series as we tip our caps to top local student-athletes at: OttawaSportsPages.ca/Ottawa-High-School-Best-2026
Martin Cleary has written about amateur sports for over 52 years. A past Canadian sportswriter of the year and Ottawa Sports Awards Lifetime Achievement in Sport Media honouree, Martin retired from full-time work at the Ottawa Citizen in 2012, but continued to write a bi-weekly “High Achievers” column for the Citizen/Sun.
When the pandemic struck, Martin created the High Achievers “Stay-Safe Edition” to provide some positive news during tough times, via his Twitter account at first and now here at OttawaSportsPages.ca.
Martin can be reached by e-mail at martincleary51@gmail.com and on Twitter @martincleary.
~ SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM ~
We need your help to keep producing the local sports news you can’t find anywhere else!