The Westlock Junior Rock won’t play for a provincial title after their season was cut short over the weekend.
The squad lost back-to-back games in their best-of-three series against the Sherwood Park Titans in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League Jr. B Tier II finals.
The winner of the series, which was one of two finals played over the weekend, earned a berth at the provincial championships.
“Sherwood Park is a good team, no question. They were very beatable, but it didn’t quite go our way,” said coach Mike Ivey.
On Friday, July 8, Rock dropped a tough 13-12 decision in Game 1 and a night later they lost 14-2 in Game 2 — both were played in Sherwood Park.
Having gone 0-3 against the Titans in two regular-season matchups and one pre-season tilt, they knew they were in for a tough challenge, but Ivey said he always believed they could upset the league’s best team.
Friday night’s one-goal loss, following a furious third-period comeback, was difficult to recover from.
Down 13-8 only minutes into the final frame, the boys tried their best, but just couldn’t find the equalizer.
“To lose by one … that could have been our game. I know the boys were pretty choked about that,” he said.
“It should have been our game. Just unlucky and we couldn’t get the right bounces at the right times … a couple shifts off and they made us pay for it.”
Going into Game 2 on Saturday night, the team knew they needed to come out strong if they wanted to have any chance of keeping their season alive.
Ivey said they performed well, but could have dug a little deeper.
“I figured with out backs against the wall we would be a bit of a tougher team to eliminate,” he said. “The boys battled. The score doesn’t reflect how we battled.”
Ivey said it was a tough way to end what was an up-and-down year for a strong team.
The boys finished their regular-season campaign with a 7-7 record, before knocking out the Vermilion Roar two straight in the opening round of the league playoffs.
“It was a different year. We were so used to being top dogs, but at the same time I think we were,” he said.
“I don’t think the standings showed what kind of team we were … I wouldn’t at any point say it was a bad year, just a couple games where we made a few mistakes and it didn’t go our way.”
Looking forward, Ivey said he expects much of his team to return next season to make another run for provincials.
“Lots to work on for next year and we hope to have a really good squad coming back,” he said.
