Last season the Red Deer Renegades fell just short of the Junior B Lacrosse Tier II provincial finals.
In the second round of the playoffs, Red Deer was knocked out by the Lloydminster Xtreme, who went on to win the silver medal.
However, after a positive start to the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League (RMLL) season, the Renegades are hungry to get back.
“We want to build off that [playoff loss]. Guys are getting older and we have a lot of returning players. Hopefully, we can make a good run at the end of the season,” said Renegades head coach Mike Clark.
“We lost some veteran guys. Four guys didn’t make it back because they aged out. They’re missed but we have guys with a lot of experience that really want to make a run this year.”
The Renegades improved to 5-3 on Saturday with a 13-7 win over the Crude Jr. B Tier II squad at the Dawe Centre. Despite the encouraging first few weeks, Clark isn’t satisfied with his team yet, saying they’ve had higher expectations for their start.
“We were hoping to have fewer losses honestly. They’re coming together and we’re getting better every day,” he said.
Their expectations for the season are to make the playoffs and see what happens. This season they have 18 returning out of 24 players including plenty of third and fourth-year players.
Leading the way offensively for the Renegades is Derian Clark with 13 goals and seven assists for 20 points. Drew Barclay is right behind him with eight goals and seven assists for 15 points followed by Ryder Graham with seven goals and 13 points.
However, they don’t have many fifth years meaning they will welcome back quite a few next season.
“They’re gelling really well,” he said. “Everybody gets along really well. When you have that it’s really easy for team chemistry… Everybody chips in the same. They’re a great group of boys.”
Next up for the Renegades is a matchup against the Lakeland Heat at the Bonnyville RJ Lalonde Arena on Saturday, June 10.
Meanwhile, the Red Deer Rampage in the RMLL Jr. B Tier I league have dropped three games in a row, after an 11-5 defeat on Sunday.
