The Okotoks Sr. B Raiders showed no lingering effects of an early playoff exit in their season opener.
The Raiders registered a 15-6 romp over the Calgary Mountaineers in their Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League 2012 regular-season debut, May 5 at the Centennial Arena in Okotoks.
The Farmer brothers were offensive catalysts throughout the game for Okotoks with Tyler Farmer notching a game-high of five goals and two helpers and Danny Farmer posting a goal and four assists. The latter said ball movement was the key to the Raiders’ offensive attack.
“We’ve got a couple new offences that we’ve been doing and this year everyone’s being unselfish and moving the ball around, the ball is not just dying on one stick,” Danny Farmer said. “We got their goalie to move side-to-side a lot and that was a beneficial for us.”
The visitors looked poised for an upset by building an early 2-0 lead before Okotoks responded with five unanswered goals in the opening period through Garrett Werschke, Scott Cable and Tyler Farmer.
The second period saw a parade to the penalty box from the hosts, giving the Raiders an early opportunity to showcase their traditional strong suit in shorthanded situations.
“We did a lot of good work on our penalty kill in the second period,” said Raiders head coach Jared McNicol. “We’ve always had a very strong penalty kill and we’ve created a lot of chances and goals for ourselves over the last few years.”
Okotoks received second period tallies from Cable, Dave Grant, Randy Levick and a pair from Tyler Farmer to build a 10-4 lead going into the final 20 minutes.
Okotoks won the battle in transition and were the quicker team in loose ball situations, especially in closing out the game in the final stanza.
“You get that young blood in there, Ryan Taylor who played a handful of games last year and Brett Rubuliak, they’re just character guys and they didn’t see a lot of floor time in the second period with all those penalties, but in the third period they were the guys who stepped it up and took away their opportunities and got all the loose balls,” McNicol said.
Okotoks scored four consecutive goals to build a 14-5 lead and closed out the match with a convincing nine-point win.
“We definitely got into some penalty trouble and gave them up a couple goals and if we just cut that down, keep the ball moving and the pressure on defence we should have a pretty good season here,” Farmer said.
The youthful infusion on the club was also a huge factor. The Raiders’ bench boss was signing the praises of the many newcomers to the organization following the excellent debut performance from his club.
“Arjay Ratcliffe I thought was excellent for us, he played pretty mean spirited,” McNicol said of the Raiders’ third-round pick in 2012. “(Mountaineer) Tyler Pridham went after our goalie and Arjay stepped up to him, took him down and that’s the kind of guy you want to have on your team.”
“Patty Vellner and Trevor Howse from Red Deer were in tonight and I thought they both played very well and we had a couple more guys like them who weren’t in the lineup, but they’ll get their shot,” McNicol said. “It was good to see those new faces do what they did.”
Farmer also appreciated the efforts of the freshman Raiders.
“All our new guys played well. First game of Senior and you’re used to the Junior speed. Once you get up to Senior everyone’s a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger and for them all to fight through and just adapt to the game was great,” Farmer said. “They really helped us win.”
Ratcliffe, a former Jr. A Mountaineer, said he was motivated to stick it to his former teammates and coach John Killbride.
“You obviously want to do well, you want to push hard and get under their skin,” Ratcliffe said. “I think that’s what we did.”
The first year player was ecstatic to be drafted by Okotoks and his early experiences with the Raiders have only driven that sentiment deeper.
“I absolutely love it, the chemistry, the culture, it’s second-to-none,” Ratcliffe said. “I didn’t expect to be picked by the Raiders, but now that I’m here I wouldn’t wear another colour.”
The Raiders hit the road on May 11 to square off with the Rockyview Sr. Knights at Peter Knight Arena in Crossfield and return to Centennial Arena in Okotoks for a May 12 date with the St. Albert Sr. Miners at 6:30 p.m. For more information on the Okotoks Sr. B Raiders go to www.raiderslax.com
