There is nowhere to go but up for the Okotoks Senior Raiders.
Following a disappointing last-place finish in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League’s (RMLL) South Conference on the heels of three appearances in the final in four years, the Raiders are cautiously optimistic of better fortunes in 2013.
“We’re targeting a top-four finish and making the playoffs,” said Raiders president Angus Jenkins. “And we’re going to be in a dog fight because the Calgary Mountaineers have improved immensely, the (Rockyview) Knights are really good so we’re going to be extremely competitive in the South just trying to fight out wins.”
It will be a similar roster doing the heavy lifting for the Raiders’ bid to get back to their winning ways in the RMLL. Returning are points leaders Tyler Farmer, leading goal scorer Randy Levick, captain Josh Sartorelli, Steve Morris, Dave Grant and brothers Garrett and Jason Werschke and top-tier goalie Kane Swartout.
The Raiders will feature a new look behind the bench as goaltender Ryan Avery will perform double duty as player-coach for the Raiders.Avery’s lacrosse experience is considerable as he played with the Calgary Roughnecks and won a President’s Cup with former Jr. A Raiders head coach Bruce Codd with the Wellington Aces in 2006.
The new coach, taking over the reins from Jared McNicol who was relieved of his duties in the offseason, wants to play an up-tempo style of lacrosse with transition leading to offence.
“It’s kind of a transition aggressive style where we’re pushing the ball up the floor a little bit more and not just relying on offensive guys to score,” Avery said.
Goal scoring could be at a premium this year for the Raiders. No longer on the roster are offensive lynchpin Danny Farmer and the versatile Pat Vellner.
“Our defence and goaltending can keep the ball out of the net and keep it to a six or seven goals against average,” Avery said. “If we get our offensive guys out and can get nine, 10 goals every game we should be fine.”
The Raiders president said the team is one in transition as core players have gone into other endeavors in their lives outside of sport.
“We’re a team that I guess you could say is getting older, which is a weird thing considering the average age is 27 to 28,” Jenkins said. “Those guys that have been our leaders for the last three or four years are now moving on with their lives. Guys are getting married, guys are having kids and it’s thrown some different dynamics into the mix.”
Combating the aging roster has been a challenge for team management as Junior drafts in recent years have failed to adequately fill voids.
“The drafts over the last few years just have not been very useful for us,” Jenkins said.
“We have not been replacing our older players, but we have been active in trades to make sure that in 2014 and 2015 we’ve accumulated a lot of draft picks because we’ve targeted those years as being some of the best drafts.
“We’ve always maintained our core of 10 to 12 guys, but we haven’t added on a ton of young guys to that core.”
That changed this winter.
The silver lining to Okotoks’ last place finish came in the form of six-foot, 195 pound Tyler Melnyk, the Raiders’ first pick in the Junior draft.
Melnyk, familiar to Okotoks lacrosse fans as a dominant scorer for the Calgary Jr. A Mountaineers, will join older brother Matt Melnyk on the Raiders roster when he returns from the University of Marquette later this month.
Avery said Melnyk was an obvious choice as the clear-cut best player in the draft and fills a goal-scoring hole on the Sr. Raiders.
Fellow-draft pick Tanner Serwatkewic should provide valuable cover in goal along with Avery as starting netminder Kane Swartout is expected to miss most of June.
Fifth round pick and Calgary Chill alumnus Jay Everson will give the Raiders much needed depth in transition and Bobby Whitford brings a big body to the defensive unit. The Raiders’ home opener is May 10, 8 p.m. at Pason Centennial Arena, versus the Knights. For complete schedule information go to rockymountainlax.com
