The Rocky View Rage Jr. B Tier II lacrosse team earned a crucial win on June 22 to keep their slim RMLL playoff hopes alive.
Carson Barrows scored six goals and Deegan Reutlinger added five in a 13–5 domination of the Mountain View Stingers. The win came two days after a heartbreaking 11–9 loss to the Calgary Axemen, who scored twice in the final minute to steal the victory.
Barrows tied the Axemen game 9–9 midway through the third in a back-and-forth battle against a team that had beaten the Rage by five goals just a week earlier.
With 52 seconds remaining, Calder Graham gave the Axemen the lead with his second of the night, and Brayden Nelson sealed it with 15 seconds left.
Rage head coach Reese Sellwood says the league has been far more competitive this season.
“Last year, I was kind of able to know if we were going to win or lose a game,” said Sellwood. “There weren’t very many toss-ups last year.”
The Rage are coming off a record-setting season that saw them reach the South Final for the first time in club history.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys on our team this year who are settling into playing junior lacrosse,” said Sellwood. “We’re working on getting those guys adapted to playing against bigger opponents in a faster game. They’re used to being the bigger guys, but they’re not anymore.”
Still, the Rage aren’t throwing in the towel.
“I think we need to win a few to guarantee it,” said Sellwood. “We’ve got to lock in, dig deep and try to get a couple of wins.”
After a two-week break, the Rage return home for their final two regular-season games. They host the Strathmore Venom before closing out the season against the Southern Alberta Chaos—a division powerhouse that has lost just once.
Sellwood says the Chaos benefited from an influx of Tier I players after the Southern Alberta Jr. B Tier I team folded, and remind him of the Cranbrook Black Wolves, who were dominate in the league until joining another in B.C.
