Sometimes, lacrosse is a game of inches and milliseconds.
The Rockyview Silvertips learned that in heartbreaking fashion on July 29, following a 6-5 loss to the visiting Red Deer Rampage at the SLS Centre.
The narrow defeat in the second round of the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL) junior B playoffs ended the Silvertips' 2023 post-season.
According to head coach Tyler Waycott, the 'Tips scored what they believed was a buzzer-beater as the clock ticked down to zero to force overtime. However, the officials deemed the ball had crossed Red Deer's goal line a fraction of a second after the final buzzer sounded.
“We thought we beat the buzzer, but the officials, in the end, made their call,” Waycott said. “I guess in their mind, we didn’t beat the buzzer. It was close. We had a good push, but unfortunately it just wasn’t in our cards this year.”
The result was an upset win for Red Deer, who didn't beat the Silvertips during the RMLL regular season and finished with a 9-11 overall record, compared to Rockyview's league-leading 16-3-1 record.
Though the Silvertips ultimately didn't retain their central division title from 2022, Waycott was quick to praise his players – many of whom were new to the U21 league this year – for a sterling overall season.
“The playoffs are one thing, but when you look over the entirety of the history of the Rockyview Silvertips…to be the first [roster] to finish first overall in the regular season, and then give ourselves a great opportunity to be a top team year after year, we’re very proud of our group, he said.”
“It’s a tough lesson to learn. Being a young team, the post-season is definitely a different beast in itself. However, we’re very pleased with our group and the season that was.”
After earning a first-round bye courtesy of their first-place finish, the Silvertips entered the best-of-three series against Red Deer brimming with confidence, and easily dispatched the Rampage 13-2 on July 27.
However, the Rampage put up a proper fight in game two the following day, defeating the visiting Silvertips 4-2 in a gritty, low-scoring battle in Red Deer.
Waycott said the score was deadlocked at 2-2 until the final three minutes, before Rockyview earned a contentious penalty. Red Deer then scored the winning goal while enjoying the man advantage.
“There’s a penalty called, like it or not, and then they score on the power play,” he said.
With the series tied at one win apiece, the two teams returned to Cochrane for the do-or-die game on Sunday. Despite the Silvertips' dominating most of the game's offensive statistics, the Rampage held a one-goal advantage up until the 'Tips' goal was chalked off in the final second.
Waycott credited the Rampage's goaltender for keeping the Red Deerians up amid a late offensive onslaught by the Silvertips, who registered 56 shots on goal on Saturday.
“He made save after save after save,” he said. “We put up 50-plus shots every game against them, and had our opportunities. We had some goals called back. But you have to give credit to their defence and goaltending. They were able to challenge or silence our offence.
“It was definitely a defensive battle. It’s not often you lose a series when in every aspect of the game except the score board you’re dominating. We outshot them, we had less penalty minutes, we were the plus team in the series. It is what it is.”
The Silvertips were the RMLL junior B league's reigning central division champions, and considering their dominant regular season, were pipped as favourites to retain the division title this year, as well as challenge for the franchise's first RMLL championship.
“It’s one that is going to sting for quite some time, but once that pain and disappointment goes away, it’s time to change gears, reflect and look at the positives that came out of it,” Waycott noted.
A silver lining for the 'Tips is the majority of the 2023 roster should hypothetically be back next year. Waycott said only two Silvertips players are aging out of the junior league this year: captain Foster Stainthorpe and goalie Jayden Herman.
Even though the 2024 season doesn’t start until next April, there’s plenty of lacrosse-related events before that, including the RMLL meetings in November, a combine in late January, the junior A and B drafts in February, and the preseason training camp in March.
“Once January hits, it kind of into the swing of…identifying the prospects we’d look forward to drafting into our organization,” Waycott said. “And then preseason starts in March and the regular season starts at the end of April.”
While the sting of defeat and playoff elimination still smarts, Waycott said the Silvertips will shake off the disappointment quickly and start building toward next year.
“We’ll take a week break to recollect our thoughts and let the sting dissipate,” he said. “But in a week’s time, we’ll get back to work preparing for what we project to be another successful season next year.”
