The Westlock Jr. ‘B’ Rock lacrosse team ended its Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League regular season with a thud June 25 at Jubilee Arena, dropping a 12-6 decision to the visiting Vermilion Roar in a game marred by some third-period fisticuffs.
“We have had good, clean, fast games,” said Westlock Lacrosse Association president and assistant coach Liz Roberts. “This was not representative of our games.”
The loss also meant the Rock will not advance to the playoffs for the first time the group has been playing together, Roberts said.
The game started off on the wrong foot for the Rock, who found themselves down 2-0 less than four and a half minutes into the game. At 11:54, the Roar increased their lead to 3-0, before Kevin Peyre scored for the Rock at 15:34 to cut the deficit to 3-1. However, the Roar responded at 17:56 to give the visitors a 4-1 lead after the first period.
The start of the second saw the Rock come out with guns a-blazing. Kody Wolfe scored 21 seconds into the frame to make it 4-2. The Roar responded at 1:10 to regain their three-goal cushion, but Peyre and Mike Ivey scored at 1:33 and 2:42 to pull the Rock within one at 5-4. Unfortunately, that would be as close as the Rock would get, as Vermilion scored the next five goals in the period to go up 10-4 after 40 minutes.
The third was a more even period, despite the fact the Roar increased their lead to 12-4 less than four minutes in. Darien Ringuette replied for the Rock at 5:01, followed by Ivey’s second of the game at 10:25 to round out the scoring and make the final 12-6 for the visitors.
After that, the game descended into a shoving match, with three separate fights breaking out in the last 10 minutes. After the third fight, the referees ran out the remaining 1:18 on the clock, to prevent any more roughhousing.
Roberts said Vermilion is one of the top three teams in the Rocky Mountain league, so losing to them is not a disaster.
“They’re a very skilled team,” she said. “You can’t take that away from them.”
Although missing the playoffs is disappointing, she said being able to play lacrosse at that level is something good for the kids on the team.
“It gives them something to do,” she said. “They enjoy it and it’s good physical activity.”
In addition, although they have the option of trying out for higher-level play in Edmonton, the vast majority have chosen to play in Westlock with their friends, Roberts said.
Beyond being the end of the season, Saturday’s game was also the end of the coaching careers of Ken and Norine Schuster.
They have been involved with lacrosse in Westlock since 2005, when Ken worked with the midget team.
Since then, they have assumed numerous positions with the association, from president (Norine in 2006) down to coaching the bantam, midget and junior teams.
During that time, Norine said it’s been “very enjoyable and interesting.”
“I most enjoy working with the kids,” she said. “They’re like family because we’ve been with them for seven years.”
Ken said he found the rapport they established with the kids to be so strong it was as if the kids were their own.
One memory the Schusters said they will have is of the first year there was a junior team in Westlock. That year, no one on the team had any knowledge of lacrosse, so they were learning as they went along. But because the boys were such “exceptional athletes,” they developed quickly and were able to get as a team so well they ended the season as provincial bronze medalists.
Roberts added she found that the kids learned respect from the Schusters, who provided good leadership and cut a great deal of swearing from the players’ vocabularies.
As they leave their posts, the Schusters admit it’s a bittersweet moment.
“It’s tough to move on,” said Norine. “It’s an emotional day.”
