It wasn't the ending they wanted, but the Olds Stingers finished their most successful season in team history with silver medals after losing 16-12 to the Crowsnest Pass Ravens in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League's junior B Tier III finals on July 20 at the Olds Sports Complex.“Just told them I was proud of them, thanks for the season, they did a great job and in my mind, we're winners,” said Gary Gaudette, head coach of the Stingers after the game. “Never had this before. Never had a silver medal. Or any medal as far as I've coached for juniors.”This past season saw the team finish on top of the league standings for the first time with 13 wins and three losses.“It was a blast. Had a great time with the guys. Good bunch of guys. Just had a good season,” he said.The Stingers were the host team for the junior B Tier III provincial championship and in the finals, played a Ravens team that boasted the most potent offence in the league – 247 goals during the regular season.Jace Bohmer was a force for Crowsnest Pass throughout the game, scoring five goals and recording three assists.It was an ordeal for Olds to regain the ball once the Ravens captain took possession of it. On two separate occasions, it took more than three Stingers at a time to pin the Crowsnest Pass player to the boards and knock the ball free.“It's tough. They have one really strong player on that team and he's the one that's been getting all the goals,” Gaudette said about Bohmer. “We had to figure it out and it was too late. We figured it out in the third period how to shut him down but the first period was where he got all his goals.”The Stingers trailed 9-2 about six minutes into the second period after a goal by the Ravens' Graham Brown.After two frames, they were down 12-7.But the Stingers stormed back, led by two goals and an assist by captain Brent Beukeboom in the third period.A point shot by Olds' Dexter Hebert found the Ravens net and closed the gap to 15-12 with 2:28 left in the game.The comeback fell short though, when the Ravens' David Shortreed completed a hat trick with an empty-net goal with 9.7 seconds left in the game.“We had some good competition. It's no fun if you're winning every game by 10 goals. Even the final, we got down by a bunch but we came back, pushed back. It's what these guys are all about. (We don't) quit,” Beukeboom said. “I wouldn't want to come here with anyone else. Coaching was great.”The Stingers have the talent, Gaudette said, and he expects the same roster to return next season.To repeat this year's success, he said the team will work on two areas next season: improving the offence and staying out of the penalty box.“After looking at the kids, the boys at the beginning of the year, I had a good feeling that we would make it this far because there is a lot of talent on this team,” he said.“Even our three losses that we had during the season was due to penalties. But the talent on the team is unbelievable.”[email protected]
