Two wins in less than 24 hours means that Westlock’s junior lacrosse team, the Rock remains unbeaten for the season.
Friday night saw the Rock win at home against the Edmonton Wizards 11-2, while on Saturday the club hit the road and downed the Lloydminster Xtreme 13-9.
Coach Mike Ivey thinks the team’s good early form bodes will for the season, but is unwilling to make predictions on how far the Rock can remain undefeated.
“I defiantly think we have an opportunity to do something special. We have a really good group,” he said. “We haven’t lost yet and knock on wood we can keep that going.
“But I know it’s going to be tough. In the next couple of weeks we have some good teams to take on. We have to keep getting better as we know other teams in this league will keep getting better too.
“It’s a great start, but we have got lots of work to do.”
While the game against a young Wizards club may have slowed up a little, the home team was able to maintain their intensity.
A five-goal first period pretty much sealed the deal early, but it didn’t stop the Rock, who went on to post another six over the remainder of the contest.
“It was a good win,” Ivey said. “I think the boys played solid. It could have been even more spread, we could have put a few more in, but it’s one of those games where then game kind of slowed down.
“I think we played really well but it was not a fast paced game.”
Cory Mercer slotted home two goals within 30 seconds towards the end of the first period and also picked up an assist late in the game while captain Jake Chizma took a major and two assists out of the evening.
Ivey once again praised the Rock’s last line of defense, with goaltender Troy Desranleau making the coach’s highlight reel.
“He shut them out completely,” he said.
“We gave our younger goalie, Cole Medcke, the third period. He’s actually only a midget aged goalie and he came in and did very well. It’s awesome to have two strong goalies this year.”
Sixteen hours and a long bus ride later, the Rock faced a team they had battered the previous week.
The final score of 13-9 underpinned a physical and aggressive game that included five fights.
“It was a crazy one,” Ivey said. “
We won 13-9 and it could have been a little more wide spread but they stuck with it, so I give Lloyd a lot of credit.
“It was a scrappy affair. When you’ve played a team twice in two weeks you get a little bit of a rivalry going.
“Also, when you get a bit of a lead, it’s kind of common nature for a team to get a little scrappy, and that was fine. We never go looking for fights, of course, but it was good to see the boys sticking up for each other.”
Next weekend sees the Rock host two home games at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre.
On Friday night at 7:30 p.m. the Edmonton Warriors are in town and the next day, at 4:30 in the afternoon, the Rock will be aiming to make it five in a row by putting down the Sherwood Park Titans.
Ivey is thankful for the support the team has had so far from the community and hopes it will continue.
“We’ve been very lucky to have a lot of fans already” he said. “It’s awesome to see people are coming out and supporting the boys. We really appreciate the support.”
