The Westlock Rock earned their place in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League’s Junior ‘B’ Tier II North Conference Championships after sweeping the North-Central Division series last weekend.
Westlock beat the South Edmonton Warriors 11-4 and 16-2 last Friday and Saturday, respectively, pleasing the hometown crowd with decisive back-to-back victories.
Coach Mike Ivey said the lopsided score wasn’t a good indication of the high level of competition out on the floor at the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre.
“They’re a very good team, the Warriors,” he said. “They played tight, but we just stepped up and as much as the score was a little lopsided, it was definitely a good battle.”
The series win will give the Rock the opportunity to play for the conference championship this weekend in Westlock against the winners of the North East Division playoff between the Vermilion Roar and the Fort Saskatchewan Rebels.
Ivey said despite a strong showing last weekend, he didn’t want to take for granted that the Rock would so easily win the championships.
“They’re in the other division, so we’ve actually only ever played Vermilion once, and we beat them by one; it was a very good game,” he said.
“And Fort Saskatchewan was top in that division.”
The winner of that series and the schedule for next weekend’s games were not available by press time, but Ivey said the games would be played in Westlock.
One way or the other, though, he said it should be a good show for the fans.
As for what put the Rock over the top last weekend, Ivey credits every player on the team for stepping up their game and keeping constant pressure on their opponents — even controlling play when short one or two men on the floor.
“Our biggest thing is either (penalty kill) or five-on-five, we want to be aggressive at all times; it’s kind of a farm-boy mentality,” he said.
“We want to keep pressure on them, and we’ve got the lungs to do it since we do a lot of dry-land training all year.”
The Rock have so far been undefeated in Tier II, but Ivey said he doesn’t expect the Rock will play at a higher level next season.
“I don’t know if we’ll be moving up any tiers, but I think the divisions might get changed up a little bit,” he said.
To find out schedules for this weekend’s championship series, visit the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League website at www.rockymountainlax.com.
