In sports, sometimes the best team doesn’t win, or the game is a lot closer than it should have been.
The Westlock junior Rock lacrosse team may have won its game 12-10 against the Edmonton Blues on June 14 at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre, but for player Justin Quaghebeur, it sure didn’t feel it.
“It doesn’t feel like much of a win,” he said. “We really should have blown them out. It’s bittersweet.”
The game didn’t start well for the Rock, as they found themselves down 1-0 less than a minute into the game. After falling behind 2-0, the team rallied for a single goal before the end of the first period, and entered the first intermission down 2-1.
“It was a bit of a psychological start to the game,” Quaghebeur said. “We had a hard time getting going. We didn’t have our heads in it.”
As the second period started, the Rock found they were still having troubled getting into the game, falling behind 4-1 and 5-2.
However, after that fifth Blues goal, something clicked and the Rock went on a roll, scoring six straight goals to end the period and take an 8-5 lead.
“It was the bench morale that helped,” Quaghebeur said. “We like to talk a lot on the bench. And big hits help too, as well as putting it in the back of the net.”
In the third, the Rock continued their strong play and opened the scoring less than a minute in to take a 9-5 lead.
Unfortunately, that was the last goal the team would score until there were just over seven minutes to play.
In the intervening time, the Blues mounted a big comeback, scoring four times to knot the game 9-9.
Westlock retook the lead with 7:16 to play, but gave the lead right back with only 4:53 to go.
With the score sitting at 10-10, and less than five minutes to play, the Rock managed to take control despite a plethora of penalties called on both teams.
The home side retook the lead, 11-10, with only 2:57 to play, and stretched that lead to 12-10 with 2:32 remaining on the clock. They then managed to hold on and come out with the win.
Quaghebeur said the back-and-forth flow of the game came from what kind of a team the Rock is.
“We’re a big momentum team,” he said. “Once we lose it, it’s hard to get it back.”
With the win, the Rock move to 9-1 on the season, with seven games remaining on the schedule. The team wraps up its regular season on July 14 before starting its playoff run.
