The Jr A Miners are making the drive down to Calgary on Saturday June 12 to face the Jr A Mountaineers for an early evening tilt at SAIT Campus Center Arena (6:00pm start time).

The Miners are riding a high after defeating the Sr Slash in OT by a score of 12 – 11, which puts them on a 2 game winning streak coming in against the Mounties. To add to the Miners confidence, they have yet to lose to the Mounties in 2010, having defeated them 14 – 11 and 9 – 6 thus far.

The Mounties are 2 – 1 over their last 3 games but both of those wins came at the expense of the bottom dwelling Sr Mountaineers. They are desperate to string together some wins so they can get out of the basement in the standings. This will be another tough test for the Mounties as they just can’t seem to put it all together for a full game despite early season high expectations.

On the positive side for the Mounties, sophomore Dallas Ehrhardt may have found his scoring touch and physical presence. After missing all of training camp it appears as though the former rookie sensation has found his lax-legs and a little more confidence. Over the last 3 games Ehrhardt has been a much more dominate physical presence defensively, and has found his range with his outside shot.

We’ll be watching big Dallas Ehrhardt today to see if he continues the pattern of stronger and stronger play.

Track the stats for today’s game under Schedules & Scores.

Times are tough in Mounties land right now after dropping a game to the Sr Raiders 10 – 5, which was the first loss by the Mounties to a Sr team in 2 years, then following that performance up with a weekend 9 – 6 loss against the Jr Miners up in Edmonton.

The Mounties just can’t seem to catch a break, nor can they make their own breaks. After playing 2 of the worst periods of their season against the Sr Raiders, they still only found themselves trailing 7 – 5. Unfortunately, as has been the case for the last pile of games, the Mounties shooters went stone cold and were held off the scoresheet for the third period.

Against the Jr Miners, the Mounties got off to a much better start, but then the referee’s took over the game in what looked like a classic case of homer refing, hitting the Mounties with 26 minutes of penalties in the third period alone. While almost no loss can ever be solely attributed to refing, this was the closest thing to it.

Now the Mounties find themselves in full desperation mode as they work to put a check-mark in the win column. Luckily for them, they’ll do so against the equally win-challenged Sr Mountaineers tonight at SAIT (9:00pm start time). Not that the Jr Mounties are taking anything for granted, not when they’re sitting 2 – 5. So far this season the Sr Mounties have been competitive in most of their games, so this will be an interesting test for the Jr Mounties to see if they can turn the corner with a solid effort.

This is a critical game for the Jr Mounties, and starts a 6 game swing that could either put the club back above 500, or deep in the hole and just looking for a way out of the season. Truth be told, a Jr Mounties team sitting with a 2 – 5 record at this time of the season  is a very unexpected turn of events. This team is chalk full of talent on offense with the likes of Tyler Melnyk, Joel Stretz, Cam Gardner, Jordan Ferguson, Dallas Ehrhardt, and 2010 first overall pick, rookie Dan Taylor, all of whom were projected top 10 scorers. Not to mention they have one of the largest, fastest group of veterans on defense with Matt Melnyk, Andrew Smistad, Braden Hergott, and Curtis Pridham. Plus, with starting goaltender, Andrew Houghton, on the cusp of a breakout season, the record is that much more confounding.

In any case, with the players on this roster I expect the Jr Mounties to string together a winning streak equal to, or better than, their current losing streak. Thereby signlling to the league their true colours.

Check out tonight’s game between the Jr A Mounties and the Sr B Mounties at SAIT Campus Center Arena, 9:00pm start time. Plus, don’t forget to follow the stats for this game here.

Having now watched the Mounties play 4 games, this is a very interesting team and somewhat difficult to get a handle on. During their first 2 games this was a team that couldn’t stop a fast-break if their lives depended on it and they had no fast-break to speak of for themselves. In their last 2 games they’ve smothered their opposition all over the floor, effectively eliminating any fast-break while at the same time getting stronger and stronger with their own fast-break game.

On Sunday the Mounties went on the road for the second game of the season against the Edmonton Eclipse. The Mounties hit the board quickly, and often, and the Eclipse just didn’t seem to be able to get any flow going with their game. Before the game was 4 minutes old the Mounties were up 2 – 0. The Eclipse answered back at the 16:59 mark but then the Mounties defense and goaltending shut them out for the rest of the first period. In the meantime, the Mounties added another 3 goals from Dan Taylor, Arjay Ratcliffe, and Tyler Melnyk.

The third started out much better for the Eclipse as they notched a quick one at 16:57 by Muhammad Jomha, and then another at 15:15 by Greg Bourret. It looked like the Mounties  had cooled off and the Eclipse defense was getting it together, at least until 6:31 of the third when Taylor Crossley potted one and opened the flood-gates again.

After Crossley’s goal the Mounties added another 4 goals before the end of the second period. In total they netted 5 goals in about 6 minutes to finish the second period up 10 – 3.

The Eclipse did not give up in the third. They came out with life, energy, and a little fight. The players of the Eclipse showed grit as they ratcheted up their physical play and tried to entice the Mounties into a few penalties. It didn’t seem to work but overall the Eclipse did muster up a 3 goal third period, unfortunately the Mounties managed another 3 goals of their own.

In one sense this was an unusual game. The Eclipse seemed to dominate draws winning 16 of 24, but they often followed that up with short possessions or unforced turn-overs. When that wasn’t happening, the Mounties D was shutting them out.

I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with the next few games between these two clubs as the season series now sits 1 – 1.

• Review the full game summary under Scores & Schedules.
• Next Mounties Game: Wednesday, May 19 vs. Jr Raiders
• Next Eclipse Game: Wednesday, May 26 vs. Jr Miners

Well it wasn’t pretty on the offensive side of the ball, but defensively both teams showed up to play and for the Mounties, it was enough to get their first win of the season bringing them to 1 – 2 and a quick turnaround with a Sunday game up in Edmonton against the 2009 league champion Eclipse.

When a team starts off a season 0 – 2, they’ll take any win, no matter how they earn it, and that was the case on Friday night at SAIT Campus Centre Arena as the Mountaineers knocked off the Sr Knights 6 – 5.

From the looks of the first period it seemed as though the Mounties offense was going to have a break-out game and have their way with the Knights defense and goalies. The score was 3 – 0 just 7 minutes into the first period thanks to a power-play marker and an even strength marker, both by Jordan Ferguson. Curtis Pridham then followed that up with some hard work, making it 3 – 0 for the Mounties. That was enough to chase starting goaltender, and Mounties goaltending coach, Geoff Rainsford, from the net but it wouldn’t last long, and Rainsford would turn it on over the next 2 periods.

The Knights responded with a couple goals of their own before the end of the first period, but the Mounties kept coming, adding a couple more by Joel Stretz and Captain Sean Pesowski, respectively, to finish the first period up 5 – 2.

Rainsford was back in net and settled into a solid groove, along with the rest of the Knights defense. The Mounties could only muster up 13 shots in the second period and were held off the scoresheet. In the meantime, the Knights inched closer and closer, with a couple second period goals of their own. The Mounties went into the dressing room holding tight to a 5 – 4 lead, and an offense falling back into bad habits of 1-and-done possessions.

The third period was more of the same; tight checking, hard-hitting, very little time-and-space on the floor. The Mounties squeeked out another 14 shots on net, and held the Knights to 15 against. Both team added only a single each in the third period, earning the Mounties the 6 – 5 win, and 2 important early season points.

Overall this was a great defensive game by both clubs. In addition, Mounties starting goaltender Andrew Houghton was stellar stopping 39 of 44 shots on net for his first win, in his first start, of the year. Houghton looks poised to take the lessons he’s learned from goalie coach Geoff Rainsford (who also had an excellent second and third period for the Knights) and become a dominant starter in the league.

The Mounties team as a whole was a different team in transition then what was shown in their first 2 games. They were a threat up the floor virtually every possession, and the Knights couldn’t get anything going by way of  a fast-break.

• Review the full game summary at Scores & Schedules.
• Next Mounties Game: vs. Eclipse, Sunday, May 16, 4:30pm, Bill Hunter Arena, Edmonton

Jr A Mountaineers and the Sr Knights (SAIT Campus Centre Arena, 9:15pm):

The Mounties have started the season off 0 – 2 so are in dire need of putting a check mark in the win column. The 2010 version of the Mounties is very young, but they are also very talented. This should be a good game against the equally talented Knights who have not played well against Jr teams the past couple of years.

Ball drop for this game is 9:15pm, SAIT Campus Centre Arena. There is free parking at SAIT so don’t hesitate to drop-in for the game. If you do happen to pay, be sure to have your parking validated at the door (bring your parking stub in with you).

Jr A Raiders and the Sr Raiders (Okotoks Centennial Arena, 8:00pm):

As expected, the Jr Raiders are off to a strong start having rattled off 2 wins to open the season. This will be the 2011 Minto Cup hosts first game this year against a Sr team but judging on the success they had against the Sr Raiders in 2009, the Raiders will likely end Friday 3 – 0.

Ball drop for this game is 8:00pm, Okotoks Centennial Arena. All parking is free and we would love to see both Calgary and Okotoks lacrosse fans out to the game.

Where can I find schedules & scores?

If you’re new to the Alberta Jr A league then you may not know that the Jr A Game Centre on the home page displays the games of the day, and the box scores for each game.  Use the scroll arrows (top right, by the date) to scroll through days to see what’s up on the schedule.

If you really want to dive into the schedule, then visit Scores & Schedules. This is where you get the real goods on scheduling information, as well as all the links you need for full stats on games, players, goalies, you name it.

Oh ya, when a game is finished (or in progress), you’ll notice the box scores start showing up under Scores & Schedules. Note the 3 icons in the bottom right of the box score. Click those for full details on the game (the first icon link, “Game Summary, is the best).

Stats are generally updated the same night a game is played and in some cases, they are posted live!