Only one Westlock Rock lacrosse team remains in the playoffs.
The Greater Edmonton Lacrosse Council playoffs have been underway since June 20, with participation from Westlock’s novice, pee wee, bantam and midget boys’ teams, as well as the girls midget team.
All but one team is now out of the playoffs, with the pee wees set for their fourth round game July 2 against the Sherwood Park Knights in Fort Saskatchewan.
The pee wee ‘B1’ Rock beat the Edmonton Wizards 4-1 and the St. Albert Rams 5-4 to open the playoffs before losing to the Edmonton Warriors 7-2 to earn their way into the fourth round of the playoffs.
The tiering system for GELC teams was new this year, splitting some of the ‘B’ teams into ‘B1’ and ‘B2’ where there were more teams at that level, based on their scores in the first five games of the regular season.
The novice ‘B1’ team made it to the fourth round. They beat the Leduc Crush 7-5 and Parkland Posse 7-2, but lost to the Sherwood Park Titans 12-3 and Leduc 4-0.
The bantam ‘B’ boys only played two games in the playoffs, losing to the Edmonton Wizards 12-4 and the Leduc Crush 6-5.
At the midget ‘B’ level, the boys won their first game against the Parkland Posse 7-1, but went on to lose two consecutive games against the Sherwood Park Titans 5-4 and the Edmonton Wizards 8-6.
The midget girls also went two for three, but were eliminated by the Edmonton Warriors 4-1. Previously, they beat the Lacoka midget girls 6-0 but lost their opener to the Parkland Posse 7-2.
Girls’ coach Denise Boulerice said they finished sixth overall in the season out of eight teams.
“Our goalie had a great game, she’s brand new to the sport,” said Boulerice about the game against the Warriors.
The midget girls this year were pretty diverse. Some players, like the goalie, were brand new to the sport, while others were pulled up from bantam to play midget level. About six or seven of them were experienced players.
There was one less team for the Rock girls this year, so some of the pee wee girls jumped on the boys team.
“I would say it was like a building year” for the junior level, says Boulerice.
Except those who move on to junior will have to play in the St. Albert-area, since Westlock doesn’t have a team. Eight of them — half the team — are eligible to move up, and Boulerice is confident most will.
It was a building year for Westlock minor lacrosse in general. The games were very competitive, and coaches are happy with their players and how the playoffs went nonetheless, said Boulerice.
The midget boys’ first loss came at the end of a very close game against a top team, the Sherwood Park Titans.
“It was all good competitive games, and that’s really all you want at the end of the season,” said Boulerice.
