Despite dropping both games over the weekend, the Rocky View Rage Jr. B Tier II squad has secured a berth in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL) south division playoffs.
While the playoff schedule had not been released at this writing, Rage head coach Reese Sellwood believes they’ll face the Axemen in the opening round. He expects the series to begin Friday or Saturday night at Stu Peppard Arena in Calgary.
The third-place Axemen defeated the Rage in both of their regular-season matchups, including a narrow 11–9 win in Cochrane on June 20.
The Rage finished the regular season with a 5–11 record, edging out the Mountain View Stingers for the final playoff berth. The Stingers split their weekend series but needed to sweep to advance.
Both the Southern Alberta Chaos and second-place Calgary Wranglers earned byes to the second round. The Chaos lost two games and the Wranglers three.
The Rage suffered a tough 17–6 loss to the Strathmore Venom on July 12. The Venom jumped out to a 5–0 lead in the first period and added six more in the second to take an 11–3 lead into the third. They closed out the game with six more goals, while the Rage added just three.
Sellwood called it a disappointing performance against a team they had beaten earlier in the season. He attributed the result to a shortened bench, a two-week layoff and some visible rust.
The next night, the Rage rebounded with a strong showing against the first-place Chaos, who finished the regular season 14–2. After trailing 7–3 at the end of the first, the Rage pushed back, with the Chaos eventually sealing a 13–8 win. The Rage had previously lost 17–3 to the Chaos earlier in the season.
“Yesterday, we had a tough game against a lower-placed team, and then we played what was probably our best game of the season against the best team in the league,” said Sellwood. “They’re half a tier one team, so we’re pretty excited.”
Sellwood noted the division has seen considerable parity this season, and with playoffs marking a fresh chapter, anything is possible.
“After this game, we’re feeling pretty good about the playoffs.”
The Rage enter the post-season in good health, but will be without standout affiliate goaltender Olivia Schmidt for at least the first round. She’ll be suiting up for the Calgary Cardinals at the female major provincial championships this weekend. Schmidt is also a member of the Canadian women’s national box lacrosse team.
