It's been an even-Steven kind of season for the Rockyview Knights.
The Airdrie-based senior B men's lacrosse team wrapped up their 2023 regular-season schedule in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL) by losing 12-11 against the first-placed Calgary senior B Mountaineers at the Plainsmen Arena on July 18.
According to head coach Gareth Barley, Rockyview was leading after the first two periods before the Mounties managed to pull ahead in the final minutes of the game.
“I hate to put the blame on the reffing, but there were some very questionable calls,” he said. “They let a lot go both ways, but some things that both of our coaching staff on the bench last night thought were more severe in our direction went the other way. In the end, they beat us by one.
“[It was] a close game. Our team, when guys show up to compete, we can compete with anyone in the league. When we’re missing key pieces to our puzzle, we struggle.”
The setback marked the Knights' second loss to the Calgary Mounties in a row, after being beaten 9-4 last Saturday at Calgary's Stu Peppard Arena.
As a result of their two recent defeats, the Knights finish the regular season in third place of the RMLL's senior B division with a 6-8 record. Ahead of them in the standings are the St. Albert Miners in second place with a 10-3-1 record and the Mounties in first with an 11-2-0 record.
Because of their third-place finish, the Knights' first-round playoff opponent will be the Miners, who happen to be the RMLL senior B division's title-holders.
Barley said he knows his players can go toe-to-toe with the RMLL's five-time reigning senior B champs, but acknowledged the Knights have to be at their best and most focused to be able to compete with St. Albert.
“We’ve had a couple good games with them [this year],” he said. “We won one, they won two. They were all pretty tight games. The one I hold in my mind was a loss up there, 11-9. We had a depleted bench due to injuries and some guys not making the road trip.”
The Knights' first-round best-of-five playoff series starts in St. Albert on July 22 and 23, before game three gets underway at Airdrie's Plainsmen Arena the following Friday. (See Rockymountainlax.com for schedules, scores, and other info).
Now that playoff lacrosse is underway, Barley said the message to his players is that it's time to ramp up the intensity if they want to challenge for the RMLL title this summer.
“The Stampede hangover excuse should be over,” he said. “I expect a full 25 guys at practice [this week] and we’ll build from there. The Miners are who the Miners are. They’re the league’s defending champs [five] years in a row now. It’ll be a tough task to knock them out. If we have our best 20 in the line-up, I think we can compete and do well against them. We proved that at the start of the year when we beat them.
“We weren’t happy with finishing third and we weren’t happy with 6-8. It’s up to [the players] to show up and play the game.”
