The Rockyview Rage Bantam B lacrosse team brought home a gold medal from last weekend’s Rock the House tournament in Vernon, B.C. – and while winning the championship game was a feat in itself, the true triumph was that the players and the coaches made it to the match at all.
“They went through a lot to get there – so to get the win was great for them,” said head coach Derrick Henry.
Accidents, washouts and other unforeseen delays created a chaotic ride for the team, who travelled in a few different vehicles from Cochrane to Vernon. The trip, which usually takes about six hours, ended up being more than 12 for most of the squad.
“We actually slept in our truck,” said Henry, who was stopped in Golden, B.C., with his colleagues for four hours after a car crash and managed to make it through Revelstoke before a washout closed the road. Hotels were all full by the time they made it to a ferry to finish their route.
While coaches managed to make it on time, the cars filled with parents and players didn’t have it so lucky and ended up being late.
“Everywhere they went, they were stuck,” said team manager Jodi McCaw.
Once they finally arrived, competition administrators managed to re-jig the schedule to still allow for the Rage to play – putting up the team’s second hard-fought journey of the weekend.
In the round robin, the squad faced a rival team from the Calgary District Lacrosse Association – the Calgary Axemen – whom they had just lost to earlier in the week with a score of 10-4.
This time, the Rage was shut out 4-0.
“No-one likes to get shut out in lacrosse. It’s so rare,” said Henry.
The team pulled it together and worked their way through the rest of the tournament to earn a spot in the gold medal match … only to again face the dreaded Axe.
By the end of the first period, Henry said the Rage were in familiar territory, down by a score of 4-0.
“You could tell the kids were down and couldn’t find a way past this goalie,” said Henry. “Mentally, their goalie was in our kids’ heads. It’s hard to stay out of your head in lacrosse – you just have to … keep shooting and hopes it works.”
That’s just what the team did, and when captain Ethan Clarke scored the first goal, Henry said “it was such a weight off everyone’s shoulders.”
The Rage starting firing on all cylinders and quickly put three more balls into the net – lifting the Axe curse.
“Our goals were in a span of less than 10 minutes,” he said. “It seemed like every shot was going in.”
By the end of the second period, the score had nearly evened out at 7-5, and in the third managed to tie it 8-8.
In the last five minutes of the game, Rage player Nick McKee lobbed one past the Axe goalie – and the rest, as they say, is history.
“When it went it I think the whole bench erupted. The kids have never been more stoked,” said Henry. “Their heart was in that one the most – to beat the team that we hadn’t scored on much … it was a huge deal.”
Riding high on the thrilling win, and with a little help from Mother Nature on the return trip, the team managed to make it back to Cochrane and area with little resistance – except for a little more hardware to carry home.
The Rage continues their season until playoffs begin on June 23.
