So nice they did it twice.
Okotoks goalie Jared Ferris and the Calgary Shamrocks followed up their first provincial and RMLL Jr. B Tier I title in team history last season by repeating the feat on Saturday to cap a dominant season and qualify for a return trip to the Founders’ Cup.
“We brought the intensity a lot more this year during practices and during games and we knew that we wanted to get back to Founders’ Cup,” said Ferris, a 2019 graduate of Holy Trinity Academy. “We knew we were going to have to step it up from last year even though we went 18-2 last year.
“We have a lot of the same guys … added a couple of rookies who fit into the lineup real well. It wasn’t like we missed a beat or anything like that.”
Calgary, the dominant force in the regular season with a 19-1 record and just 117 goals against in 20 games, steam-rolled through competition for most of the playoffs.
The top seed in the South Division, the Shamrocks punched their ticket to the provincial playoffs by sweeping the Calgary Mountaineers.
At the tournament, the Shamrocks blitzed the Fort Sask Rebels 20-8, overwhelmed the Red Deer Rebels 17-6, blanked the Rockyview Silvertips 14-1 and were upended 11-10 by the Manitoba Blizz having already punched a ticket to the finals.
The new format had the top two teams from the playoffs advance for a best-of-three series featuring the Rebels and Shamrocks.
“We knew the games were definitely going to get harder,” Ferris said. “Fort Sask didn’t make it last year by a couple points and we knew they wanted to have their redemption and knew that was going to be a tough series, for sure.”
Calgary took the opener 8-7 and ran away with the result in the clincher, overpowering Fort Saskatchewan 19-7 on Saturday at the Stu Peppard Arena.
“The guys were really clicking the whole game,” Ferris said. “They definitely got on a roll and found their groove early in the game which really helped and our D guys definitely found their groove really early.”
The Shamrocks jumped out to a 9-1 advantage through 20 minutes and were locked into ending the series in two games.
“To start off the game I was a bit nervous, but as we started to get a roll going I kind of settled down and found my groove as well and the nerves just went away,” he said. “It was like playing a regular game for me.”
The competition will only get tougher on the national stage.
The Founders’ Cup, a historic competition dating back nearly 50 years, runs Aug. 12-18 in Winnipeg.
Calgary finished fifth at the 2018 tournament and bring back 22 players from last year’s squad armed with championship tournament experience.
“It’s going to be a bit different this year,” Ferris said. “They changed the format as well and we’re going to have to step up our game when we get there, it’s not going to be like a lot of the season we had where we were winning by 10 goals.
“It’s going to be a tight game every game.”
The Shamrocks will look to become the first Alberta rep to win the national tournament since the Mountaineers in 2009. Since then Ontario teams have won nine straight Founders' Cup banners.
The Alberta lacrosse community is behind the Shamrocks bid to end such a streak.
“It feels great,” Ferris said. “You know the whole province is going to be supporting you, they want the Founders’ Cup to come to Alberta.
“It feels good having everyone support you even though you played against them, they want you to win.”
Go to lacrosse.ca for the latest Founders’ Cup tournament information.
