Goalie salvages tie for Raiders

By Bruce Campbell
sports Editor

It must have seemed like deja vu for Okotoks Junior A Raiders goalie Greg Hallett in the team’s opening Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League game.
Hallett, who said he had to face a ton of shots, when playing for the Okotoks Midget Mustangs years ago, faced more than 60 shots in the Raiders 7-7 tie with the Calgary Mountaineers Friday night in Calgary.
“I thought we controlled the flow of the game,” said Raiders head coach John Millar. “We just needed to score more goals.”
Scoring for the Raiders in the victory were Chad Mitchell with a pair, while Scott Bailey, Jake Hayes, Casey McIntyre, Danny Dahms and Curtis Yates had a goal each.
Millar said the Raiders received outstanding goaltending from Hallett.
“When you have a good goalie, it doesn’t just mean someone is stopping balls for you,” Millar said. “It also gets the rest of the players to play with more confidence.”
Confidence is something the Junior Raiders will need. While they have plenty of talent, they are young and are being groomed to be a team, that hopefully, can compete for the Minto Cup in two or three years.
“While we are young, we also have a lot of intelligent ballplayers,” Millar said after the Raiders downed the Senior B Raiders 10-8 in an exhibition game April 29 at the Murray Arena.
“These are guys who know how to find open floor and make the ball do all the work. We may not have more experience than a lot of teams but we will be able to use our experience better.”
He said the strength of the team is its legs.
“We do have a couple of big guys, but for the most part we are a speed team,” Millar said.
Millar said some of the top players to watch for are first-year players Dahms and Hayes.
Some of the veterans on the Raiders include McIntyre and Garrett Werschke.
The Raiders take on the Senior Raiders for real this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Centennial Arena.
The game is Fan Appreciation Night and there will be no admission fee.