It’s a battle between the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League’s top two junior A teams.
And it’s Minor Lacrosse Night.
The Okotoks Raiders will host the Calgary Mountaineers at Max Bell Arena on Friday, June 9 at 8 p.m. and all minor lacrosse players who wear their jersey will get free admission to the game.
Former Roughnecks captain and current Roughnecks TV personality Andrew McBride is the head coach of the Raiders. With assistants and former Roughnecks Mitch Banister and Jake Hayes by his side, they have helped lead a talented group of young men to a 10-0 record out of the gate this season.
Their undefeated season has made some noise across junior lacrosse and has helped them move into the seventh spot in the national junior A rankings.
The Raiders team boasts the league’s scoring leader, the top goal scorer, and the top assist man. Not to mention that four of the league’s top five scorers are from the Raiders program.
Levi Anderson leads the way with 20 goals and 35 assists in nine games. Following him is Kade McCormick (20g, 28a), Brett McIntyre (25g, 15a), and Travis Getz (17g, 22a).
While they’ve been lighting the lamp at a ridiculous pace, they’ve also been given great goaltending from Joey Janvier and Brendan Wilhelm. Janvier has a .843 save percentage, allowing just 31 goals in 328 minutes of action. Meanwhile, ‘the Wall’ Wilhelm has a .811 save percentage, playing in just over 170 minutes.
The Mountaineers, the reigning RMLL champs and Minto Cup finalist, have a strong 7-2 record this season, sitting in second place behind their local competition.
Coaches Joe Vetere, Joel Henry and Cody Hawkins each spent time with the Roughnecks organization during their careers. And they’ve passed on their knowledge to some of the league’s top players.
Lyndon Bunio (14g, 24a), Jake Foster (21g, 16a), Laszlo Henning (14g, 22a), and Myles Moffat (13g, 22a) all reside in the league’s top ten for scoring.
In between the pipes, Doug Gardner has been the man for the Mounties. The 21-year-old netminder has been fantastic for his team, allowing just 29 goals in his 265 minutes of work. That’s good for a .830 save percentage.
The two Calgary junior squads last met on May 31, with the Raiders beating the Mounties 9-7 on the backs of Anderson and McIntyre, who netted six points each.
