Venom prepared for postseason

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore Venom junior B lacrosse team built some momentum in the home stretch and capped the regular season off with a hard-fought 13-9 win over the Calgary Axemen on July 5 at the Strathmore Family Centre.
Captain Cody Betterton could not be more proud of the team in their compete level and is looking forward to seeing what they can do in the postseason.
“This a huge win for us,” said Betterton. “The Axemen, we’ve been having tough games against them, and we needed this to clinch home floor to start playoffs and we did that tonight having a big effort from everybody.”
This being his last junior season, he hopes the team will transfer their experience and skills from the regular season into the playoffs.
“It’s been awesome, we have a lot of young kids, so you see a lot of maturity over the season,” said Betterton. “It’s (a short season) but guys learn a lot and we got a good bunch of guys in there and strong leadership. I think that’s a winning combo and going on here I’m excited to see a lot young kids (who) still have a lot of energy. It’ll be good to see in the playoffs.”
He said that because the guys give it a 110 per cent every night, it makes his job as captain easy.
Head coach Mike Olver praised his team for playing an all around complete game and the players who stepped up when called upon.
“Austin (Allen), our goalie, played phenomenal today, he was huge,” said Olver. “Our goal scorers, did what they needed to do. Our goal now, win one round of the playoffs and then we’ll see where that goes.”
Olver is thrilled to have his team back in the playoffs after a year absence and will ride the momentum from beating a tough Axemen squad.
When the Axemen started to become undisciplined in the game, the Venom were able to take advantage, and Olver stated that it will be key to stay disciplined in the playoffs if they are to stay successful.
“We have to stay out of the penalty box,” said Olver. “Then we can run with almost any team five-on-five. When you’re down a man in lacrosse, these other teams are good.”
With fourth place locked up, the Venom will tangle with the Red Deer Renegades in a best-of-three series starting July 10 in Strathmore. Game 2 will be July 11 in Red Deer, and Game 3, if necessary, will be in Strathmore the following day.