The stretch drive will be a close to home finish for the Okotoks Marauders.
And that’s good news for the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League Jr. B Tier I outfit with three wins in just four games at the Murray Arena and six of its final nine contests in Big Rock Country.
“It’s my last year and it is a favourable end to the season, I like to play here a lot, it’s the home floor, we love having the town out here,” said Marauders captain Jake Stegerman. “The home court is big in this league, I find, especially with those divisional games where we get the loud crowd on our side.
“We know the bounces here, we practice here two times a week so it’s nice to have it at home the majority of the rest of the way.”
At 5-6, the Marauders are two points back of the Calgary Moutaineers and within eight of the South Division leading Calgary Shamrocks.
“Every year I find the South kind of runs this league,” Stegerman said. “I’m going to be a little South bias, being a Calgary kid, but I found the Shamrocks, Mounties and Marauders, every time they’re on the floor it’s going to be a battle.
“They’re never going to blow us out, we’re never going to blow them out, it’s a battle from minute one to 60. We’ve got to dial it in and we’ve got a good stretch to go here where hopefully we can rack up those points.”
The Marauders, bronze medallists at the 2022 provincials, have beaten both the Shamrocks and Mounties this season along with a couple of tough road trips on the docket.
“It’s been ups and downs so far this year,” said Marauders head coach Don Haynes. “We’ve got a couple of things to tune up, but generally the squad looks pretty good and we’re doing a lot of the right things.”
Okotoks got a couple of big boosts to the lineup with netminder Carter Webber joining the fold from the Jr. A Raiders along with transition/defensive ace Noah Everson, a first-round draft pick of the Jr. A Mountaineers.
Webber made 50 saves on 55 shots in the 17-5 win over the Mountain View Mavericks on June 11 with Everson leading the attack from the back gate with a game high four goals.
“Our offence was slower to start this year, we lost a couple big pieces from last year,” the captain added. “With the D-gate producing some more, it gets them going, it gets their confidence higher. If we’re drawing penalties back there, we’re getting good stops and moving the ball up the floor.
“We’ve got a very athletic back-end, myself I love running the floor and playing alongside a couple of guys that do it even better some games.”
Lyric Kleutsch, Jacob Harlow, Lucas Harlow and Max Pocherewny each scored twice Owen Williams, Gavin Crippin and Blake Robinson also getting on the scoresheet.
Okotoks dropped its weekend opener 15-12 to Regina’s Queen City Kings. Robinson had a hat-trick, Williams tallied five assists with Pocherewny posting a six-point performance.
“It’s nice to see the offence clicking,” said Haynes. “We’ve still got a couple of guys away that weren’t around here this weekend, but they’re moving the ball around really well and it’s nice to see those guys putting up numbers.”
This weekend the Marauders are home to the Mounties on June 16 at 8 p.m. and hit the road for their first clash of the season with the Lethbridge Barracudas on June 18.
“Like always, the South is a really competitive division in the league,” Haynes said. “There is just a ton of parity in the whole league, it feels like anybody can beat anybody on a night.
“It’s going to be a battle for us in the South to try and win and get to that Larry Bishop (championship).”
In the Alberta Major Female Division, the Okotoks Ladies Raiders are home for a pair of games next week. Okotoks hosts the Red Deer Riot on June 18 at 2:30 p.m. and battle the Calgary Cardinals on June 21 at 7:30 p.m.
The Ladies Raiders sit fifth in the standings with a 4-6 record. Okotoks’ Cameron De Paiva leads the provincial loop with 22 goals in eight games.
For full schedule information, visit rockymountainlax.com.
