They didn’t bring home the gold, but a bronze-medal finish in their first lacrosse tournament of the season is nonetheless a great result for the midget Westlock Rock.
Coach Don Medcke said he was very happy with the finish, a 9-6 win over the South Edmonton Warriors, since the Rock lost to them earlier in the St. Albert Icebreaker tournament, held April 25-27.
“As a coach that’s always where you hope to be — finishing strong,” he said. “This is a great group of kids so it doesn’t surprise me at all that we had a good tournament.”
The tournament began on a really high note, as well, with the Rock overcoming one of their rivals — the Sherwood Park Titans, whose bantam incarnation beat Westlock’s bantams in the league final last year.
“That’s a good rivalry. Of all the kids who moved up from bantam to midget this year, just about all of them played in the league final against the same Titans,” Medcke said. “It makes the games more interesting, that’s for sure.”
After the late win on Friday night, the Rock struggled on Saturday, dropping both of their games.
“They were both close; it was a strong showing in both of those games as well,” he said. “That’s really at this point in the year all I was looking for — good effort and consistency.”
This was the first competitive action the Rock had seen so far this year, and it followed nearly four weeks of practicing to get the 19 players back in shape for the season.
“It’s a big team, but it’s working out just fine so far,” he said. “We’re rolling the lines well and the kids are really buying into things and playing as a team.”
A strong showing in a tournament is a good way to start the season, but in terms of league games that count towards the standings, the real action will start this weekend with a trio of away games scheduled in Edmonton.
The home opener is scheduled for Saturday, May 10, at 5 p.m. at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre.
