Three Olds teams in the Mountain View Lacrosse Association are off to different starts, but manager Gary Gaudette and player-coach Andy Sweetman are optimistic all three will do well over time this season.
As of the middle of last week, the tier I Mavericks had a 3-1-1 record. The tier II Stingers were 1-3, and the senior C Stingers were 0-2.
Gaudette says the Mavericks are off to a good start.
"(We) tied our rival, the Red Deer Rampage, first game of the year and then turned around the next week, we went down to Fort Saskatchewan and played the Rebels, which won the north division last year, and we beat them 12-9," he said during an interview.
"And then we just got back from Winnipeg on the weekend. We played the Manitoba Blizzard and we came back with two wins and one loss."
Sweetman likes the poise the team is showing.
"The nice thing with the Maverick team is even the rookies look like they've been there for a couple of years now,'" he said.
Sweetman and Gaudette note the last game on that road trip was especially impressive. It ended up 16-8.
"(We) got goals from everybody," Gaudette said.
"Yeah, it worked out well that way. That's what we need, is we need everybody on the offence contributing, not just two people," Sweetman added.
Gaudette and Sweetman also note the team is strong defensively.
"It's been a good start for those guys. It's great, got to keep it going," Sweetman said.
He noted there's always a question with teams that start out of the gate strong.
"Are you going to plateau there or are you going to get better throughout the year? I think we're just going to get better and better," he said. "And the teams we've beaten, I think some of them might have already plateaued."
The tier II Stingers have been hurt by two problems: injuries and guys who have decided to return to work instead of playing lacrosse. As a result, the team is short of players.
"We've got four guys out right now with injuries. One or two may not be back this year and the other two are coming back. And two guys went back to work instead of playing lacrosse on us halfway through," Sweetman said.
"So we're a little light on players right now. We'll get over that hump, but right now it's just get that injury bug out of the way and get those guys back out on the floor."
To fill the gap, the Stingers have been calling up some midget-age players.
But that creates its own problem.
"It's tough when you've got the midget players moving to the junior game. It's a different level, different speed, different systems and things like that. It's tough for them to adapt," he said.
"But bodies are bodies right now for those guys. We'll get that fixed here in the next couple of weeks and hopefully start getting a better record."
Sweetman said two teams in the tier II league -- Red Deer and Sylvan Lake -- are really strong, compared to the rest of the league.
"So we'll get all of the tough games out of the way early and then we can start playing teams of the same calibre as us and start improving our record a bit more," he said.
It's been an eye-opening experience for many players on the senior C Stingers.
"They're working on it. They actually had a good game. The second game was good. They lost 9-7. It was a really close game," Gaudette said.
Sweetman agreed.
"Yeah, we're getting better."
Gaudette and Sweetman said a lot of guys just weren't prepared physically for the pace of the game — the workout that it can be.
"That's part of it, and you've got players on there who haven't played for five or six years and players who haven't played at all," Gaudette said.
Sweetman agreed that's an issue. Plus, many guys on teams the senior C Stingers are encountering have played together for a long time — maybe more than 10 years, so they know each other's tendencies and play well as a unit.
"They will turn (it) around. You can see it, just from the second game," Gaudette said. "The first game they had a little bit of a problem from the penalties. They were just too tired to chase after the guys.
"We had 70 minutes in penalties in the first game. We were down to eight penalty minutes last game, so they're getting better," Sweetman said.
Sweetman said after the first game, a lot of players began working out more and took in an extra practice.
"I think it caught a lot of them off guard. I think they were expecting it not to be as fast a game (as it is) at times," he said.
"On the defence and even on offence, it's not as fast a game as senior B or even at the junior level, but it's still quick enough that you've got to be in some kind of shape to play it."
"They've got a bunch of determined guys. they want to do their best. They come out to practice," Gaudette said.
"And this year we're not really worried about the record so much, we just want to get guys out, get 'em back on the floor," Sweetman said.
"So the record is the record. If we're competitive, great. If we're not this year, let's just get the guys on the floor and get the program working and running again.
"And then we know next year we're going to have a bunch of juniors moving up who will probably keep playing and that's just going to make that program even stronger," he added.
