Local Raiders rake in more playoff success

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

Local Rocky Mountain Raiders bantam triple-A boys team, goalie Ethan Rycroft and defensemen Mitch Desserre were up for the task of being Westernshosts in Okotoks from March 31 to April 3 , which resulted in a finals appearance in front of a full house.
The Raiders would face off against the Burnaby Winter Club Bruins in front over 1,000 fans in Okotoks where they fed off the energy in hopes of bringing the title home.
It was the Bruins however, who got out to a 2-0 lead early in the game, however the Raiders would come back to tie it in the third, only to see Burnaby walk away with a 3-2 win after scoring late to win the gold medal, while the Raiders earned the silver medal.
“The whole crowd was good for our team,” said Rycroft.
“We were expecting not to do anything in the tournament. It feels pretty good to win a silver medal. Our defense shut them (the Bruins) down pretty good and didn’t give them much. Then our forward core worked hard to get the two goals.”
He added that Burnaby was a quick puck moving team, which created chaos on their defensemen and shot every time they had the opportunity.
Desserre felt that they performed to their potential all weekend long to show they could play with those other strong teams and not be that pushover club.
“We were physical and just kept getting pucks on net,” said Desserre.
“They had a couple of big players who are good at protecting puck. They’re good at protecting the puck, so just sticking to the puck and not letting them go through you. They only got a few shots, I think we outplayed them in the third, we were down there most of the time.”
He added that the silver medal was something to be proud of because even though they didn’t win the league, they still got a medal at Westerns and beating out there arch nemesis Lethbridge and other provincial champions to do so.
Meanwhile, the Raiders female midget triple-A team, consisting of locals Emma Borbandy, Hailey McCallum, Paige Russell, Libby Wheeler and Erin Fargey, booked their ticket to the Esso Cup after sweeping the Northern Capital in regionals by identical 3-0 scores in Prince George, B.C. on April 1 and 2.
Wheeler said going into the series that it could’ve been the end of the road and after what she termed an embarrassing loss to them in the Mac’s Final, it was only anger that fuelled them to succeed this time around.
“Yeah, getting to Prince George, we were all excited,” said Wheeler.
“It made it real getting to the rink and we knew Pacifics was a real thing for us and we really needed to step up our game. We had to get it in low and work really hard to shut them down. We had a really good for check and that really helped us out.”
She added the key to shutting them out was driving them wide and not giving them any quality shooting opportunities.
Now heading into Esso Cup, Wheeler feels they fit in with the teams that will be there and if they stick to who they are and continue to roll the line combinations they’ve created, the success will come.
As for McCallum, she said that there were fewer nerves and more of determination by the team to put up a good fight.
“We definitely had a lot of support,” said McCallum.
“There were tons of parents there. But playing on the road has been about 50/50 this year and hasn’t been great but lately we’ve been doing well. Everybody is starting to click more and it’s just no individualism, you can see on the ice and we just all want to get the win.”
The Esso Cup will go in Weyburn, Sask. from April 17-23.