The cure for what ailed the Okotoks Sr. B Raiders was nothing more than putting their name in the win column.
Okotoks held off the hard charging St. Albert Miners 8-7 on Sunday at Pason Centennial Arena to pick up its elusive first victory of the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League campaign. The Raiders (1-2) let a similar third period slip away in a 9-8 loss in their home opener Friday to the defending champion Rockyview Knights.
“It’s definitely a big accomplishment getting this monkey off our backs,” said Raider Jason Werschke. “Last game we were pretty close, but this puts us over the top and hopefully in the right direction for the next couple of games.”
Following an opening frame against St. Albert in which both teams exchanged three goals, bruising Raider Tyler Farmer gave Okotoks a lead it would not relinquish when he beat the Miners’ netminder early in the middle frame.
Raider Marshall Just doubled the advantage when he beat the shot-clock with a seeing-eye point shot into the cage. Just added his second of the period on a four-on-three penalty kill.
St. Albert got back on the board when it took advantage of an uncharacteristic turnover from Raider captain Josh Sartorelli. Undaunted, the Raiders answered right back as Farmer wore a trio of Miners like a dress en route to his second marker of the period.
Randy Levick gave the Raiders some much needed insurance when he was left alone in front to make it a three-goal game with 15 minutes remaining.
It’s a good thing he did as the Raiders spent almost the entire period shorthanded.
St. Albert secured a five-on-five goal and finally managed one on the man-advantage, but it was too little, too late for the visitors. After the Raiders killed off a Garrett Werschke minor penalty with four minutes left, St. Albert’s push quelled.
Jason Werschke attributed Okotoks’ shorthanded prowess to zeroing in on St. Albert snipers Graedon and Jordan Cornfield and Nate Schmidt.
“We were trying to take away their shooters, their top scorers, we tried to eliminate them,” he said. “We forced them to pass to their other guys that we haven’t seen much and it worked out for us.”
The Raiders were in a similar situation Friday carrying a 7-5 lead into the third period over the vaunted Knights, but surrendered four goals allowing Rockyview to steal the victory.
“We let up with about five minutes left in third, we were just hanging on to the win instead of putting our foot on their throat,” Sartorelli said. “We realized that in this (Miners) game we had to make amends for it.”
Sartorelli credited his teammates for doing the little things, from winning faceoffs, to outcompeting the opposition for loose balls against a talented St. Albert team expected to contend for the North Division title.
“Beating these guys shows we can play with any team in the league,” Sartorelli said. “When the boys let this one settle in we’re going to have some momentum coming into Wednesday’s game with the (Calgary) Mounties.
“We’re hungry to beat them. They’ve embarrassed already this year.”
The Raiders host the Calgary Mountaineers on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Pason Centennial Arena and get another crack at the Knights in Okotoks on Friday May 24. For the latest on the Sr. B Raiders go to raiderslax.com
