Red Deer’s Ryley Dowswell had a game to remember Saturday afternoon when the Red Deer Rampage beat the Lethbridge Barracudas in Junior ‘B’ Tier I action in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League 7-4.
The 17-year-old notched a hat trick to lead the Rampage to the win including two in the first period. He said he felt good about his game.
“It always feels good when you get the first goal and from there you just cruise, get the ball moving and get the boys fired up,” he said.
Dowswell finished the hattrick in the second period off a slick assist from Tayvian Pike. Dowswell said he had a rough start to the year but has found his rhythm as of late.
This is his first year with the Rampage after playing with the Red Deer Renegades Junior ‘B’ Tier II team last season as well as Junior A lacrosse with the Okotoks Raiders.
He has been playing lacrosse for 12 years and said what keeps him playing the game is how dynamic it is.
“It involves contact obviously, you got to be tough. You got to work with the team, be physical, and fast. Just so many things in the game it’s just such a fun sport, so unique,” he added.
Freshly graduated from Hunting Hills High School, Dowswell said he’s going to continue to play lacrosse for as long as he can and has an interest in playing field lacrosse in the United States.
Shae Lavoie, Justin St. German, Tanner Park, and team captain Tyler Clarkson also scored in the game.
Head coach of the Rampage Andrew Munden said as always their goaltending and defence kept them in the game.
“Sometimes our offence doesn’t put up enough points but today we did,” Munden said.
Towards the end of the match, the Barracudas made a push scoring a couple of goals but the Rampage didn’t let it phase them.
“We have a tendency of letting off the gas a little bit and that’s something we’re still working on. We’re a pretty young team and pretty new to Tier I with this team. A lot of these kids come from minor because of COVID we had three years off so a lot of these kids don’t know a six-goal lead isn’t safe,” he said.
The win couldn’t have come at a better time as the Rampage are still competing for a playoff spot. Beating the Barracudas has sprung them into third place in their division at 4-11-1 and to make the playoffs you need to be in the top three of your division. With four games remaining every win will be vital.
July 6 they play the Calgary Chill who are second in the division. The Rampage will then play the Manitoba Blizzard on Saturday, July 9 at home, and Crude Lacrosse Club Sunday, July 10 to close out the regular season.
“We got (three) games left, two of them are against teams in our division so that helps us quite a bit. So hopefully we can take both of those and move up in the standings,” Munden explained.
Red Deer lost Sunday 9-6 to the Rockyview Silvertips on the road. They got goals two goals from Issac Tisdale and singles from Corbin Regnier, Clarkson, Cooper Lavoie and Dowswell.
Meanwhile, the Renegades are also in a playoff spot sitting fourth in their division. They have two games remaining on Saturday, July 9 against the Titans and Sunday, July 10 against Crude.