Rampage 12
Chill 8
As the old saying goes, revenge is a dish best-served cold.
In 2022, the Red Deer Rampage were sent packing after a devastating playoff loss to the Calgary Chill, but a year later things look a lot different.
On Sunday the Rampage completed a two-game sweep, defeating the Chill 12-8 at the Dawe Centre to advance to the second round of the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League Tier II Jr. B playoffs.
Team captain Issac Tisdale said the team played strong all series long.
“Our goalie obviously stood in there and played really well,” he said.
“Today we had [Ryley] Dowswell score seven goals which is amazing. We really couldn’t ask for much more… The boys are definitely happy.”
Head coach Troy Tisdale echoed his comments and said it feels great to get their first playoff win.
“I think we were probably considered the underdogs coming into the series and we wanted to show everyone that we could do it,” he said.
“If we keep playing like that we’re going to keep on competing that’s for sure.”
The Chill carried the momentum for most of the first period and headed into the intermission up 3-2. Dowswell scored the lone two goals for the Rampage in the frame.
In the middle period, the Rampage began to pick up steam scoring six goals to the Chill’s three to head into the third period up 8-6. Dowswell scored four in the second followed by a goal from Graeme Simpson and Issac Tisdale.
In the third, the Rampage closed the game with four goals which halted a comeback push from Calgary early in the period.
“We’re ecstatic,” Tisdale added. “We can relish this one for a week and we did exactly what we wanted to do. This was two really well-played games.
“We had a tough time against the Chill in the regular season and we knew they were a great team. They were playing really well coming into the playoffs… Today the Chill came out to play and we had to weather some storms but it was a good game.”
Up next for the Rampage is a matchup with the central division’s top team the Rockyview Silvertips out of Cochrane. The Slivertips received a first-round bye after posting a league-best 16-3-1 record.
If the Rampage win the three-game series they’ll punch their ticket to provincials.
The series will begin next Friday in Cochrane followed by Game 2 in Red Deer on Saturday. If needed, game three will be played on Sunday on the road.
Red Deer’s head coach added it’s going to be a very tough series.
“They had the best record in the whole league so we’re going to be in tough. We’ll go out there and keep playing our game.”
