It was a first place finish for two Lakeland Heat lacrosse teams.
The bantam and midget boys both had strong showings during their provincial tournaments at the Calgary Soccer Arena from Thursday, July 11 to Sunday, July 14.
Learning a life lesson at provincials
The midget teamweren’t deterred when an issue arose with one of their players getting to finals.
“We had to convert one of our players into a goaltender,” noted head coach Daryl Hodinsky. “He stepped up and did a very good job of it.”
The Heat didn’t let a 7-5 loss against Westlock faze them. They bested Okotoks 10-8, followed by a 15-6 win over Calgary. They finished round robin with a 16-5 victory over St. Albert, which would land them in the final.
Player Liam Ludlage, 16, noted the team stepped up their defence during the tournament.
“We had a pretty rough start on our first game because we lost to Westlock, and then we ended up having to play them in the finals,” he continued. “We ended up having to score a lot of goals and not letting a lot of teams score on us to make it to the end.”
The Heat were able to find redemption for the loss when they went up against Westlock in the gold medal game, and beat them 6-3.
Hodinsky took the tournament as an opportunity to teach the boys a life lesson about making the best of any situation.
“When everybody gives you lemons, you could complain about it and not like the taste, or you could make lemonade,” he said, adding they changed their game chant from ‘three, two, one, Heat’ to ‘three, two, one, lemonade.’
Ludlage recalled the players originaly being confused by the coach’s suggestion, but embraced the cheer throughout the tournament.
Although the team’s victory left Hodinsky speechless, he described the weekend as a fantastic way to end the season.
“I’m super proud of them that they played well together as a team, that they didn’t let the little things get to them, or any hurdles that got into our path. We either jumped, crawled, or ran around them. The boys just did a fantastic job growing as a team, and as young men. It was just fantastic.”
Gold finish for bantam
Travis Gibbons, head coach for the Lakeland Heat bantam team, noted the gold medal finish in the B division shows how far they’ve come this season.
“The As and Bs are usually from Calgary, Edmonton, and the surrounding areas where they have a little bit more players to draw from. It’s kind of a nice experience for the kids that we ended up winning, and just speaks to the nature of the program here and how far it’s come over the years.”
The team was determined going into the tournament, and didn’t let anything slow them down.
“The kids stayed positive on the bench, even though we were down a couple of goals a few times. But, they stuck to the game plan, they played the game, and they just carried on. They weren’t fazed.”
They brought this attitude into the final game, where they came out with a 11-6 victory over Lethbridge.
“Everybody played a strong part, played to their strengths, and everybody had a particular part to be on this team. They played good, they didn’t try to do too much, and stuck to playing the game the way it was suppose to be played,” Gibbons explained.
