The battle-tested Raiders are rolling into a third straight appearance at the Jr. A nationals.
Okotokians Ethan Landymore, Luke Welton and the Okotoks Raiders dispatched the Calgary Mountaineers in an epic seven-game series in the RMLL Junior A provincial final, to win their third straight title and qualification to the 2019 Minto Cup.
“It was a different year for our group. We had a lot of transition from last year to this year,” said Raiders head coach Jesse Fehr. “We had a lot of guys trying to find new roles and become comfortable early. I think our league being more competitive combined with our team working to find its new roles and establish early just built a lot of resiliency and belief in our group.”
They needed all of the above to get past the Mountaineers.
Okotoks fought off 2-0 and 3-2 series deficits to take the series in seven games.
The Raiders battled back 3-2 down entering the third period in Game 7 on Aug. 8 to score four unanswered through a pair from Levi Anderson along with markers from Adam Wolf and Safo Arthur, a former Okotoks Jr. B Marauder, to seal the deal.
“Throughout the entire year this was the team that faced the most adversity. We didn’t finish first, we had to battle for a spot to even make second place,” said Landymore, a Hartford University commit. “We had a bunch of adversity going into the playoffs and after beating Saskatchewan in the first round we were all really excited for the next round.
“After going down 2-0 we just didn’t get down on ourselves because we’d been in a position like that before last year was the exact same. We went down 2-0 and were able to pull it off in seven as well.”
Landymore finished third on the Raiders with 11 goals in nine playoff games and was sixth on the team in points with 14. He was second on the squad with 41 points in the regular season.
“For a second-year guy he had an awesome year,” Fehr said. “He finishes the ball tremendously well, he works super hard on and off the floor to be a better player, he’s extremely unselfish almost to the point where we have to tell him to demand the ball even more than he does. I think he’s still figuring out how talented he actually is.
“Looking forward to seeing him play at that level after getting a bit of a taste last season at the Minto.”
Welton, did not suit up in the post-season due to injury, but was a key cog on defence for the Raiders in the regular season playing in all but one of the games.
“He’s a third year player in his first year of Junior A and was developing a ton,” Fehr said. “Unfortunately with injury he’s not able to play, but he had a really good year, developed a ton and we’re looking forward to working with him the next two years.”
Okotoks finished 8-7 in the regular season in a tightly contested Jr. A league with the improved Saskatchewan SWAT and the merging of both Edmonton teams into the Miners providing battles every night in the four-team loop.
“In the past a lot of our teams haven’t really had the most adversity going through the season,” Fehr said. “When you get to the Minto and things start to go differently than you planned in your head, it’s a tough adjustment to make in a short tournament.
“Whereas this group has seen everything as the year has come along. I think that we will be able to be resilient with whatever comes up. As a group we understand what we do well and what will make us successful.”
The Raiders will see two familiar opponents at the 2019 Minto, held Aug. 16-26 at the Langley Events Centre in BC’s Lower Mainland, in the defending champion Coquitlam Adanacs along with Ontario’s powerhouse Orangeville Northmen, six-time national champions.
New this year is the other BC finalists the Victoria Shamrocks whom the Raiders have never played a competitive fixture against.
“It’s pretty much play our game and play how we played in the season,” Landymore said. “We’re not going to change much, just keep doing what we’re doing.”
At the 2017 Minto, they were competitive yet finished 0-3 with all of the losses by two goals or less at the championships in Brampton.
The Raiders co-hosted the Minto last summer at the Max Bell Centre and finished in third spot with a 1-3 mark, dropping games to the Adanacs and Brampton Excelsiors, but getting past the rival Mountaineers to earn a spot in the semifinal.
“Last year we saw the competition that was going to be there,” Landymore said. “Now I personally know what to expect more and just like everyone else who has been to previous Mintos, they all know what to expect and how it’s going to work.
“The past experiences will help for sure.”
It’s another chance for Alberta lacrosse to prove it belongs with the elite against B.C. and Ontario.
The Mountaineers’ two wins over BC teams at the 2016 Minto mark the only times Alberta teams have beat out of province competition at the championships since the late 1970s.
“At this point now we’ve got a lot of guys who’ve played in the Minto Cup before or played in big games whether it be the Midget national championships or provincial finals or even the Minto,” Fehr added. “That’s what we told them before Game 7 is we’ve got a group that’s maybe more prepared than any group we’ve ever had to deal with situations like this.
“We’re excited to see how we handle it and it’s a good opportunity to challenge ourselves.”
The 2019 Minto gets underway on Aug. 16 when the Raiders battle the Adanacs. The round-robin tournament runs from Aug. 16-18 with the top team earning a bye through to the final and the second and third seed squaring off in the Aug. 19 semis.
The top two teams advance to a best-of-five series from Aug. 21-26.
For more information go to bcjall.com/mintocup2019
