Both junior Rockyview lacrosse teams were in action this past weekend. The junior Rage and Silvertips took to the turf on April 27 and 29. The Tier 2 Rage had a rough start to their year, going 0-3 in the first three games of the season, losing 7-6 to the Olds Stingers, 17-3 to the Red Deer Renegades and 12-8 to the High River Heat. The Rage snapped the three game skid with a 11-7 victory over the Strathmore Venom on April 27, but followed that up with a tough 10-2 loss to the Calgary Wranglers on April 29, in a game where the Rage didn't get many bounces to go their way. In the game against the Venom, Rockyview was powered by two three goal performances by transitional players Brad Yakiwchuk as well as Brad Smith. Smith also added an assist for a team high four points, while goaltender Andrew Smollett was solid in goal making some key saves down the stretch for his team. The team also scored five goals either on the power play or shorthanded, which helped propell the team to their first victory. The following game, the Rage got goals from affiliated player Adam Goody as well as Zach Kosack, but the team was unable to keep pace with a vicious Wranglers attack that peppered Rage goaltender Reese Sellwood. "We're 1-4 and to be totally honest with you, we only had one game I expected to win. We won the game I figured we'd win, we won (against Strathmore) and the other game (against Olds) where I thought we'd be close, we were and ended up losing in overtime," said Rage head coach Kent Proctor. "I knew we'd have a tough game against the Wranglers and we held them to 10 goals, which is pretty good for playing one of the top teams in the league. Unfortunately for us, we couldn't score any goals ... we had lots of chances, we just couldn't capitalize on them. But if you can hold one of the top teams in the league to 10 goals, then that's really positive." "It doesn't take a lot of detective work to see the other rosters and notice that there's a lot of older players on the other teams. It's just the way it is. So given our age and age of the other teams, I think we're doing better then we were expected to do. Expansion teams are usually lucky to win a game ... but there are a couple teams that we could upset down the stretch in order to get around the .500 mark." The Rage will have their sixth consecutive game on the road when they're in Medicine Hat to take on the Sun Devils before returning home for a whopping nine game home stand starting on May 11 against the Wranglers. Proctor said the boys are excited to play their first game in front of a home crowd. "We're super excited. It's been good though to play a bunch of road games as an expansion team though. To be able to see some team's home openers and get out feet wet in the league process because there's a lot more work for the home team in order to set up for the game ... so it's kind of been a blessing for us to start off on the road and see how things work," Proctor said. "Everybody is really excited to play at home. We've got our Cochrane home opener on May 11 and our Airdrie home opener on May 13 so that's a really big weekend for us. We've got some things planned before and during the game and we'll have some festivities planned, so it'll be a good time." "I know the boys are already excited to play at home in front of their family and friends. But we are playing against two tougher teams ... we're going to do what we can to compete with them, it would be awesome to keep those games close and it would be even better to pull out a win. But for us as a team, our goal is to put on a good show and it's going to be memorable for the boys for sure." The Silvertips kicked off their season with a pair of road games in Calgary and Red Deer on April 27 and 29 respectively, going 1-1 in the process. In their first game of the season against the Calgary Chill, the Silvertips tallied two goals from Colby Gulutzan, while also receiving a goal from newcomer Josh Halcro, but were defeated by a score of 5-3. Goaltender Jack Bruzell-Friesz made his first career Jr. B start and kept Rockyview within striking distance once the team got down by a couple goals. The following game against Red Deer went better for the visitors, as they were victorious by a score of 9-8 off the backs of Noah Oakey and Josh Halcro who both scored two goals apiece in the win. Goaltender Ethan Reynolds started the game in goal, but was replaced midway through the game in favour of Jack Bruzell-Friesz who came in and preserved the win for his team. The Silvertips will now travel to Regina for three straight games against the Swat on May 5 and 6 before returning home for their home opener on May 11 at the Plainsman Arena in Airdrie. On the women's side, the ladies lost a pair of exhibition games to prepare for their season, which will begin on May 6 when the lady Silvertips host the Calgary Axemen at home at the Plainsman Arena in Airdrie.
