Strathmore Venom stumble in busy RMLL weekend
By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter
Trailing 6-0 early May 30 as the Venom hosted the Calgary Axemen in Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League action, the Venom needed their best player to drag his team back into contention.
That’s exactly what Robinson did, as he assisted on Corbin McEwan’s two snipes in the first period to get on the scoreboard.
Trailing 10-3 with 2:02 left in the first period, Rokelle Leonard got run over in the neutral zone by Noah Aldred.
Having none of it was the captain Robinson, who jumped in and laid the beats on Aldred.
“I’m not for fighting, but when dirty stuff happens, I support standing up for your teammates,” said Venom Assistant Coach Travis Gauthier.
The only issue with stepping in for his teammate is that Robinson was forced to hit the showers an hour earlier than usual, per league rule.
“Losing him is tough in any game, let alone a game where the other team was putting up goals that easily,” said Gauthier. “He’s our leader on the floor. Our offence is based around him; he’s a great communicator on the floor and controls the offence. Even with him on the bench, he does a great job keeping his teammates emotions down.”
The Venom was doing a great job limiting teams to 10 goals or fewer in their last three games. But that was all undone when the Axemen notched 10 goals in the opening frame.
“They’re a fast team. They came at us quick and we were flat-footed. That’s were we lost this game,” said Gauthier. “We have a young team and let their guys into the middle a little too easily too. But we have a young team and that’s something we continue to work on and hopefully learn from.”
With the leading scorer in street clothes for the remaining two periods, Ryan Flemming and McEwan stepped up to try to stay with the Axemen.
McEwan notched his four-goal outing in the third by picking up a wide shot off the end boards and elevating it over Axemen netminder Blake McNiven.
“We were only down to three lefties at that point with Robinson out and we had a couple injuries,” said Gauthier. “We needed some guys to step up and Corbin certainly did.”
Chase Clayton popped in a pair in the second, while Dehl Shaw and Sterling Klem, Flemming and Sean Cuff added snipes.
Even with their leading scorer and captain returning for a pair of road games that weekend, the results only got worse.
Vacating the Family Centre for the 12th annual Redneck Rumble tournament, the Venom lost 18-7 to the Rockyview Rage 2 June 2 at the Spray Lakes Totem Arena.
The Rage opened the game on a 6-0 run before affiliated player Riley Gallant netted his first of three on the evening. The Venom closed out the opening frame on a mini run of their own, as McEwan, Tucker Fargey and Gallant each ripped mesh.
McEwan and Gallant found the back of the net again in the second, but were out-paced 6-2 in the middle frame.
Robinson finally found the back of the net in the third period in his return on a feed from Fargey, but the comeback effort fell short.
The following evening the Venom got throttled by the division-leading Medicine Hat Heat 24-3 at Kinplex 1 Arena.
The Venom will wrap up their three-game road trip June 9 at the Brentwood Arena when they tangle with the Calgary Wranglers. The Venom’s next home game is slated for June 13, when the Olds Stingers are in town.