The Okotoks Junior A Raiders will get a potential preview of Minto Cup competition early in the season when they make their inaugural trip to the west coast.
For the first time in Alberta Jr. A Lacrosse history, the Raiders will square off in three exhibition contests with the British Columbia Junior A League’s Langley Thunder, Coquitlam Adanacs and Port Coquitlam Saints in mid-May.
“We haven’t got an interlock league in order to get that competition so we’re going out there really for development so our kids can play some super high end lacrosse,” said Raiders head coach Daryl Haynes. “If you want to catch up to B.C. and Ontario then you need to play them, to play that level of lacrosse.”
Okotoks begins its three games in three nights frontier journey on May 18 when they lock horns with the Langley Thunder. The Coquitlam Adanacs, the reigning four-time B.C. league champions, will host the Raiders on May 19, followed by a short-trip to adjacent Port Coquitlam where Okotoks will face the Saints on May 20. The Adanacs are a well-known commodity to the Okotoks outfit, having squared off with the Raiders at the 2010 and 2011 Minto Cup.
“Short-term it motivates the kids,” Haynes said. “We’re playing some pretty good teams so they’re going to see that calibre of lacrosse and see it early in the season.
“We’ll use those games as learning experiences throughout the course of the year and it gives (us) something tangible that we have to work towards.”
Okotoks opens up its Alberta Junior A Lacrosse League schedule at Pason Centennial Arena on May 12 versus the St. Albert Miners and then face off with the rival Calgary Mountaineers on May 15, prior to the three-day jaunt to B.C.
“We’ve got some young guys that are probably going to crack the lineup this year,” said Raider Jordan Getz, who finished 11th in league scoring with 35 points in 2012. “Getting the opportunity to play against those high level players out there just shows them when we do play in Alberta we’ve got to win by the biggest margin we can.
“It’s also a more physical game on the west coast so it should get us mentally and physically ready for the Minto Cup.”
The Raiders will enter the three game series with something to prove and looking to gain respect for the quality of lacrosse in Alberta compared to the British Columbia circuit.
“It’s an opportunity for Alberta lacrosse to show we can compete at that level,” Getz said. “As an Alberta lacrosse team we’re kind of underestimated in our ability to play, but if we can get a couple wins down there that will show the B.C. and Ontario teams that we can compete at the Minto Cup.”
Alberta is winless in the Minto against Ontario and British Columbia, where box lacrosse is more engrained and has a much richer history.
The Raiders missed out on a third straight trip to the national Junior A championship in 2012 after being ousted in a classic seven-game final at the hands of the Mountaineers in August.
Despite the graduation of 53-goal scorer James Delaney, key transition player Kyle Dexter and goalie Mackenzie Southgate, the Raiders are optimistic they can return to the Canadian championship, this year hosted in New Westminster, B.C.
“Depth-wise we’re going to be strong and we’re going to be a much more senior team than we were last year,” Haynes said. “Getting rid of a kid like Delaney we’re dropping a lot of goals in our lineup so we’re going to have some kids step up and replace those losses in goals.”
Haynes said he does not look at the loss of some key veterans as a problem, but as an opportunity.
“I wouldn’t say they’re weaknesses,” he said. “I’d say we have some challenges.”
