The Westlock Midget Girls Rock are Greater Edmonton Lacrosse Council champions and provincial silver medalists after their fairy tale season wrapped up with a 10-game marathon that spanned from Beaumont to Calgary in less than a week.
Their quest for gold came down to a July 11 final matchup with rivals the Sherwood Park Titans in Beaumont, which the girls won 7-4.
“We just played a really physical game and made them work hard for the points they got,” said head coach Denise Boulerice.
“We didn’t open the game up until the third period, that’s when the Titans started to tire out. They’re a very skilled team, but because of our running game they couldn’t catch us.”
It was the third game in as many days for the Rock, who defeated the Titans the day before 6-5 and the Parkland Posse 2-1 on July 9.
While she was quick to point out the win was a group effort and everyone on the team contributed to the victory, Boulerice heaped praise on goaltender Paige Brill for keeping the dream alive.
“She was just a wall the last three games,” said Boulerice.
“We were outshot all week and she came up with big, big saves. She was the best goalie in the league — everyone’s saying that.”
She added that beating the Titans was extra sweet for the Rock, who were almost knocked out by them the week before.
As it turned out, the Rock were the only team to defeat the Titans all season long.
Provincial silver
With the GELC championship in the bag, the girls turned their attention towards provincials in Calgary to finish up their season.
Running from July 12-15, the three-team tournament saw the girls take an 8-2 loss from the Calgary Hornets before rebounding with a pair of blowouts against the Edmonton Warriors, first defeating them 13-1 and then 8-1, putting them in the gold medal round against the Hornets.
But it was not to be. The Hornets defeated the Rock 9-0 to force them to settle for silver, though Boulerice said the score did not reflect the game.
“We had a lot of chances, they just were able to capitalize on our mistakes,” she said. “It was a long day yesterday trying to watch everyone’s games but a good day for everyone.”
Boulerice expressed her thanks to the community for its support and thanked the fans for making the trip out to Leduc, Sherwood Park and Beaumont to cheer the Rock on.
“A lot of people make the trek down, even though these were the farthest venues we could play in,” she said.
“It was grand.”
