The Olds junior B Tier III Stingers opened their season in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League with a 7-6 victory over the Lethbridge Barracudas on May 4 at the Olds Sports Complex.Lee McDonald scored the eventual game-winner for the Stingers with just under 10 minutes to play in the third period.McDonald had two goals, one short-handed and the other on the power play to help lead his team to its first win.For Stingers head coach Gary Gaudette, it wasn't a bad way to start the season.“I thought that the boys played well. It's a lot of things we got to work on for our first game. Get all the bugs out,” Gaudette said. ““Overall, I think they played well.”Lethbridge jumped out to a quick start, taking a 3-0 lead midway through the first period.The Stingers would score four to take the lead at the end of the period, capped by a power-play goal from Kurtis Goller with 9.6 seconds left on the clock.After the Barracudas' Blake Snedden completed his hat trick, Olds extended its lead to 6-4 in the second period.However, Lethbridge tied the game in the third period with a pair of short-handed markers.First, the Barracudas' Brayden Reddick took a pass from Snedden and slung the ball over the right shoulder of Stingers goalie Keifer Olsen.Then, Simon Douglas connected on a long pass from teammate Ethan Redpath, dispatched from one end of the arena to the other.After McDonald's goal, Olsen made a number of saves in the final three minutes to preserve the win.After the game, Gaudette gave praise to his goalie.“He played really well. He stood on his head there a few times. There's a couple breakaways that he stopped. He was awesome.”[email protected]
