Westlock’s midget Rock are Greater Edmonton Lacrosse Council champions, and have earned a berth in the provincial tournament.
The Rock won the title with an 8-5 win over the Leduc Crush on July 3 in Edmonton. With the win, the team qualified to travel to Ponoka July 12-14 to compete against the top midget lacrosse teams in the province.
“We managed to pull it out,” said coach Kevin Peyre. “It was a bit of a closer game.”
The game was the tightest of the Rock’s four playoff games, with the team having posted 13-0, 8-2 and 12-4 wins en route to the championship game.
In that final game, the Rock had a few ups and downs, Peyre said, but were able to pull it together.
“We came out flying,” he said, explaining the Rock were able to grab a quick lead in the first period.
Unfortunately, the Rock were also a bit snake bit in the first, managing to hit three posts while notching a single goal. In addition, the Crush were able to tie things up late in the period, sapping some of the Rock’s momentum.
“We didn’t really finish the first period all that strong,” Peyre said.
The second frame was more representative of how the Rock could play, he said.
“We had a lot better second period,” he explained. “We went out there and controlled the game.”
Strong goaltending and timely goal scoring gave the Rock a two-goal lead after 40 minutes.
In the third, the Rock kept rolling, tacking on one goal and surrendering none to come away with the win.
With league play over, Peyre said he’s very happy, but also somewhat surprised, with how the Rock performed.
“I expected a fair bit from this team, but at the same time, I didn’t really expect us to roll through playoffs without having a one-goal game or something like that,” he said. “To win in the fashion we did, I really think we got rolling at the right time. Hopefully we can continue that on to provincials.”
Looking forward to provincials, Peyre said the Rock already have an idea what to expect. They’ve already played against two teams that could be at the tournament – Cold Lake and Vermilion – and know they can play those teams tough.
With that in mind, he said anything could happen in what is really only a three-game competition.
“I don’t see any reason why we can’t end up in one of the playoff games,” Peyre said. “I think every game will be close. I think we’ll have to fight for it, but I think we can win.”
