A heartbreaking overtime loss to the Calgary Tier 3 Axemen killed the Rockyview Rage Tier 2 lacrosse team's slim mathematical chance at a playoff run. The team had their final home game of the season on June 22 and it was a wild 29-goal-back-and-forth affair between two competitive teams. The first period was the tamest of the three with four goals apiece for both sides. Calgary opened the scoring just over 10 minutes into the game, and scored again at the 8:45 mark to give the Axemen an early 2-0 lead. On the ensuing face-off, Calgary took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which sent the Rage to the power play. Brad Smith fired home a laser shot just eight seconds into the man advantage to split the lead in half which was then followed by a goal from Josh Olsen just over a minute later, tying the contest at two. Calgary would score the game’s next two goals putting them up 4-2, but Rockyview showed resilience once again getting goals from Smith and Austin Lousier, who by far and away had his best game of his junior career. The second period started out with Lousier once again finding the back of the net for his second and third goals of the game just 12 seconds in and six seconds apart. Calgary would get the score to 6-5 but Lousier would once again beat the Axemen goaltender on back-to-back goals at the 16:45 and 16:37 mark of the period, upping the Rage’s lead to 8-5. Calgary would score to make it 8-6 before Lousier scored his sixth goal of the game and Zach Kosack scored his first of the game, pushing the Rage lead to four goals with just under 10 minutes to go in the period. The Axemen responded to the Rage’s two goals within three minutes of each other, tying the game at 10.The final frame started with Lousier tallying his seventh goal at the 17:17 mark the third, which was quickly responded by an Axemen forward making the score 11-11 with 15 minutes remaining in the game. Brad Yakiwchuk scored soon after which was followed by two goals from Lousier, who had nine markers on the evening, to make it 14-11 in favour of the home side. But as the game would unfold, a similar scenario where Calgary scored three goals of their own in the latter stages of the period, tying the game to force five minutes of extra time. The overtime was fast paced with both goaltenders coming up with some big saves but midway through the period, Calgary rushed down the floor and scored the game winner, giving the Axemen a 15-14 victory. Despite the loss, Rage head coach Kent Proctor was pleased with how his team battled until the very end of the game. "It was a barn burner. We weren't mathematically eliminated from the playoffs until after that game so in that overtime we still had a shot at the playoffs ... so we were trying hard to win the game, we had a good roster and had some boys who had some phenomenal nights," Proctor said of his team's performance. "We've had games with more penalties where we've won, but just the way the penalties came down, there was a healthy chunk in the second and third where we had long penalty kills or we were shorthanded by two men which buried us .... that was the difference in the game." With this being the Rage's inaugural season, Proctor wasn't too sure what to expect when he took over as head coach of the team. With the season wrapping up, the Rage bench boss said this season exceeded expectations despite the fact his club missed the playoffs with a 6-12 record. "To be completely honest, I didn't expect us to make the playoffs but I wanted us to be relevant. However, when the season started I kind of realigned my expectations because higher goals and expectations, also comes with being a little bit more unrealistic. By increasing expectations, especially with an expansion franchise ... all that does is increase frustration when things aren't going your way," Proctor said. "To actually be right there on the cusp of the playoffs at the end, it was a pleasant surprise ... we only lost one game that we really should have won and beat some teams we weren't sure about. We wanted to be relevant and competitive and we were for the most part." "I'm happy with the results and we already have a good foundation for next season. I'm really looking forward to starting up another campaign."
