After five straight road games to kick off their 2018 Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL) season, the Rockyview Silvertips junior B lacrosse team had their first home game of the season on May 11 against the Calgary Chill. The 'Tips had a 3-2 record coming into the game after taking two of three from the Saskatchewan Swat on May 5 and 6, but got a bit of a rude awakening when they fell 15-10 to the Calgary Chill in front of their hometown fans. The game started off really quickly, as Silvertips forward Patrick Morrow opened the scoring just 54 seconds into the contest to give Rockyview an early 1-0 lead and gave the ruckus home crowd something to cheer about early. The game was back-and-forth for the remainder of the first period, as the two teams exchanged goals at a rapid pace, racking up 10 for a 5-5 tie. Logan Ellis, Matthew McKee, Tanner Lam and Nolan Oakey did the damage early for the home side, while goaltender Jack Bruzell-Friesz also got in on the action, making some big saves to keep the SIlvertips in the game, while also assisting on Ellis' goal at the 11:56 mark of the period. The second frame was equally as quick as the first, with the teams combining for nine more goals, with the Chill scoring the extra marker with just three seconds left in the period. Christian Scott, Josh Halcro, Ryan Gulutzan and Nolan Oakey replied for the 'Tips heading into an important third period with Calgary up 10-9 in a very evenly matched contest. The last stanza didn't go quite as planned for Rockyview. Matthew McKee fired a laser past the Chill goaltender to tie the game at 10, but the Calgary-based squad scored five unanswered even strength goals to propel them to a 15-10 victory to spoil the Silvertips home opener. Rookie Nolan Oakey, who was taken in the second round of the RMLL junior draft, continues to lead the way offensively for his team with another five-point (2 goals, three assist) performance which boosted him past Josh Halcro for first place in team scoring with eight goals and 14 assists, good for 22 points in six games so far this season. Matthew McKee also had a good night, chipping in with two goals and an assist in the loss. Rockyview now has a record of 3-3, with two of those losses coming to the Chill. Silvertips second year defender Christian Scott said Calgary does a lot of things well, but his team also has some things they could improve on. "First off, I just want to make comment on our home crowd. The atmosphere was awesome ... it's always nice to play in your own barn in front of your home fans, but especially nice after a long series of home games. As for the Chill, they're a well coached team, they have a lot of veteran players on their team who know how to close out games when it comes to the finals minutes," Scott said. "With that being said, there were several positives to take out of the game. We held them to only two power play goals on 10 chances and our offence at times was very hard to stop, while also having several very good defensive sets. Overall, I was pretty happy with the way the team played, but we're going to have to build off this game in order to be successful in the future." "I think the biggest thing for us is we need to learn how to play consistently. We can't afford to take plays off because any good team can and will take advantage of that." Even with the loss, the Silvertips are more than halfway to their win total of last season, when the team struggled with a 5-15 record. Scott said this year's version of the team wouldn't be in their current situation if they hadn't gone through the peaks and valleys of last season. Scott, who was a rookie last year, says he's seen improvements in his own game as well. "I feel like last year was an improvement season for us. We had a very young team with a lot of rookies, so in a way I think last year was helpful to us. This year we understand the competition level of the league and we now know what it takes to win," Scott said. "It really helped me personally. I'm obviously still growing and developing as a player, but I feel like I've had a great start to the season ... I think the team needs me to step up in order to be successful." After the May long weekend, the Silvertips will play their first two games in Cochrane on May 25 and 27 against the 0-5 Olds Mavericks and the 1-3 St. Albert Crude. "They're both solid teams and two we haven't seen so far this year," Scott said. "I expect that whichever team comes to play and works harder will win the game."
