Adding to the Olds Mavericks' strong inaugural season in Tier II lacrosse, a pair of 16-year-olds on the team finished first and second in Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League scoring.
Didsbury's Damien Vickers scored 42 goals, recorded 37 assists to finish with a league-high 79 points.
This was his first full season playing junior B lacrosse. As a midget player last year, he was called up for a few games with the Olds Stingers in Tier III.
"I know I have a scorer's touch and all but I didn't expect to finish so high," Vickers said.
Other teams have noticed as well. Vickers said the Airdrie-based Rockyview Silvertips in Tier I have scouted him and hold his player rights. However, he isn't sure if he'll play with them next season, citing how much time he'd spend driving to practices and games.
The Mavericks' Bret Marshall finished right behind Vickers in total points with 73. He scored a whopping 55 goals – most in the league – to do it.
"I was pretty happy with myself but you can't just give me credit. The whole team does it too," said Marshall, who lives west of Innisfail.
The team has thrived in Tier II play, finishing with a 13-3 regular season record. In that time, they also amassed 226 goals, second-most in the league.
As a new team, there was surprise among players at how well they did.
"Coming into the league as a first year team, it was surprising we did as good as we did. At tryouts, we really saw our potential and in our first games, we played some really high-end teams and did really good," Marshall said.
Vickers observed the same.
"As a team, at the start of the year, I didn't think we'd do this good. Once we got our first couple games in, I was pretty impressed," he said.
"We just got a lot of good goal scorers and playmakers on the team. We have one of the best defences in the league."
The Mavericks hosted their best-of-three playoff series this weekend against the Calgary Axemen.
"I know I have a scorer's touch and all but I didn't expect to finish so high." DAMIEN VICKERS
