The Okotoks Junior Raiders don’t take losing lightly.
Three days after suffering their first regulation loss of the season, June 13 to the Calgary Mountaineers, the Raiders responded in kind with an offensive outburst at home including a 19-8 romp of the St. Albert Miners on June 16 and a 22-4 trouncing of the Edmonton Eclipse the following afternoon.
“We knew we had to get right back on the wagon right away,” said Raider Holden Cattoni. “You can’t lose too many games in a row in the league because we play a short schedule. We needed to get back in the win column.”
Cattoni, a sophomore Raider, said in his time with the organization he’s never been part of an attack as efficient as the one evidenced on the weekend. “We’ve played better than that before, but not with that many goals for sure,” Cattoni said. “It was a big weekend, it was going in for everybody.”
James Delaney, in particular, had the Midas touch for Okotoks. The Port Coquitlam native established a new franchise record for most goals in a game with nine and points, 16, set during the victory over the Eclipse.
Cattoni, who notched three goals and nine points versus Edmonton, said quick ball movement was the key to the Raiders’ offence.
“We just swung the ball, got the ball hot and through everybody,” Cattoni said. “We moved the feet, moved the ball and it made us successful.”
Cattoni and Delaney are first and second in scoring in the Alberta Junior A Lacrosse League with 61 and 53 points respectively, more than double the next top scorer in the league.
The staggering offensive totals were impressive in and of themselves, even more so given who the Raiders were missing from the lineup. Alternate captains Aaron Tackaberry and Cam Copland as well as veterans Kyle Dexter and Kyle Burrell were all sidelined due to injury.
Raider Ben Fream said the youngsters who filled in took it upon themselves to make up for the absence of such quality veterans from the floor for Okotoks.
“I think it was the young guys out of the back gate more than anybody,” Fream said. “They really picked it up, they had a rough game (in Calgary) and really stepped it up the last two games.”
The Raiders weren’t exactly slouches at the other end of the floor in allowing just 10 goals combined over the back-to-back games.
“Defensively we played really strong,” said Raiders’ head coach Daryl Haynes. “There’s still room for improvement, we’re young and still get that two games on three games off type of thing so it’s just trying to get that consistency and keep that consistency.”
Raiders goalie Mackenzie Southgate relieved Ryan McBride against the Miners to pick up the victory and held the Eclipse to just four goals to earn his second win in as many days. The rookie netminder is first in the league with four wins and sits second with a goals against average of 6.07.
The Raiders, first in the league with a 7-1-1 record, take their show on the road this week as they take in three games in six nights. Okotoks is in Calgary tonight, June 20, to face the Mountaineers at Stu Peppard Arena. They travel to Edmonton on June 23 for a tilt with the Eclipse and make the short drive to St. Albert to square off with the Miners the following afternoon. For more information on the team go to www.raiderslacrosse.com.
