Renegades 9 Stingers 4
The Red Deer Renegades were out to make a winning statement in the opening round of the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League Junior B Tier II playoffs.
Red Deer won 9-4 over the Olds Stingers on Friday then closed out the series with a 16-1 victory Saturday at the Kinex.
“First and second period, we really showed we belong in the playoffs,” said Renegades head coach Mike Martel.
“They meshed right from the first period. They were encouraging everybody and it was back to our old school Renegades performance from the beginning of the year when we really stuck together.”
Red Deer’s offence found the groove right off the hop on Saturday, with eight goals in the first period. They extended the advantage with six more in the second and topped the afternoon off with a pair of power play markers in the third.
Martel said the Renegades moved the ball well and connected with their passes.
“We knew where to shoot and we capitalized on that,” he said.
Nicolas Scott led the way for the Renegades with five goals and a pair of assists, while Chad Mears also added a pair. Tristan Clarke, Curtis Hallman, Brandon Heidinger, Blayne Friesen, Nikolaus Perchel, Ryan Mulder, Kole Weik, Brayden Laturnus, Quinn Kushniruk all added a goal.
Logan Zimmer scored the sole goal for Olds.
Martel said while the offence gets much of the credit, the defence has been “top notch” all season long and continued their strong play Saturday.
“They’ve been trying really hard and they put a lot of effort into learning their position,” he said. “They don’t get a lot of recognition. The guys shutting out the goals should be recognized too. They had a stellar performance just working together and communicating with each other.”
Red Deer will now line up against the Sylvan Lake Yetti in the second round. Sylvan Lake overtook the Renegades for first place in the RMLL South Central Division on the last day of the regular season.
The Yetti finished the regular season 16-2, while the Renegades were 15-3. Red Deer scored 266 goals on the year and allowed 99, while the Yetti scored 252 and allowed only 90. The two teams split the season series 1-1, with Red Deer winning 12-7 on May 6, and the Yetti earning the victory 11-9 on May 30.
Martel said it will be a tough battle but he believes his team will be ready to go in two weeks time when they square off in Sylvan Lake.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
