Fish out of water No. 3: Almost there

July 1st, 2008 by Joel Derechinsky

The Calgary Stampede is right around the corner. For those of you who do not know, which included me until I traveled up here, it is basically one massive party. For ten days in the beginning of July, the whole city of Calgary basically shuts down. People travel from all over the world to attend this city-wide outdoor country western festival. Country concerts, rodeos, chuckwagon races, rides and games, cowboys boots and cowboys hats fill downtown Calgary for “the best time of your life”, so I’ve heard. But before I can start celebrating Stampede there is still lacrosse to be played.

As I wrote about last week, it has been a tough season for the Jr. A Raiders lacrosse team. We have not won a game but we have lost a few very close ones. It has been two weeks since our last game and we were gearing up for a game against the best Jr. A team in Alberta so far, the Edmonton Eclipse. This looked as if it was playing out to be a very tough game and this proved to be very true.

We were playing at their place, Southside Arena, just outside the city of Edmonton. The three hour bus ride usually takes a while to recover from and even after a long warm-up, our bodies were still feeling the long trip. The game started out just like all the rest. We were hanging tough with the Eclipse just as we did the previous two times but a couple of early hiccups resulted in them scoring some quick goals before we got on the board. In box lacrosse, a couple goals should be scored on power play, a couple in transition, a couple on 5 vs. 5 offense, and a couple garbage goals. This game did not really follow these ball park standards but had the Eclipse leading 3-1 at the end of the first.

Coming out of the locker room to start the second, we knew we had to push the Eclipse in the second period. We shook of what was left of the bus trip and came out on fire. Although we only scored one goal in the second period, our defense held strong keeping the other team scoreless for those twenty minutes.

About halfway through I had another welcoming experience the game of box lacrosse. Our offense was on the power play, or EMO for field players, and with the shot clock running we eventually had to turn the ball over. The Eclipse offense then tries to “rag” the ball or kill the power play while our defense sends out “chasers” to get the ball back. During a penalty kill the shot clock does not run so we had no choice but to get the ball back. With me and another teammate chasing, I gave their play with the ball a crosscheck to the neck. He then gave me two punches to the face, although it was with the gloves and helmets on it still caught me by surprise. The second period was very much like this; back and forth but our team held strong and confidently entered the locker room before the final period.

With the third period starting we knew we had to score or we were faced with yet another lost game. With a penalty-filled game we knew we had chances and this period proved to be no different. For 15 minutes both teams went back and forth both having great opportunities to score. Finally with about five minutes left, one of our transition players, Nick Hum, got a breakaway and he did not miss this one-on-one chance with the goalie, scoring his second goal of the game. For the next five minutes of the game we fought hard. We had alot of power play opportunities but we could not capitalize.

The game ended in a 3-3 tie (there is no overtime here in Alberta). Although we did not win, we tied the best team in Alberta Jr. A. Our team is making steps toward that first win and it will come soon. With three games this week we have our chances to win, now we just have to do it.

Joel is playing for the Calgary Jr. A Raiders. He grew up in Annapolis, Md., playing lacrosse at Annapolis Area Christian School. He is going into his third year at Gordon College playing under Paul Richardson.

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