The encore can sometimes be better than the original, right? Players and staff members of the Rockyview Rage Junior B Tier 2 team certainly hope so as they'll kick off their second season on April 27.
The Rage used their first season to attract players and see where the team stood against the competition in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League. It was a learning curve, but the team still managed to rack up six wins in 18 games with a couple close losses mixed in. Head coach Kent Proctor said he'd like to see his group take another step in their second season.
"We'll have a lot more consistency in our roster. With consistency is going to be better development," Proctor said. "Players will be in more regular roles and we'll have the same roster every game which means more continuity, something we struggled a bit with last year. I expect to see better player development and having the players be a bit more comfortable in their roles."
"In junior you're getting new players every year and losing players every year ... it's a five-year program. Some players don't make the entirety of the five years due to work, school or both but we actually had excellent retention so anybody that is still living here and available is returning to the team. We had almost 100 per cent retention ... we did lose a few players, one to aging out and another couple moved away so they weren't able to play. Those players were basically replaced by the graduating Midget players who played a game or two with us last year so we're in a much more comfortable spot this year than where we were at this point last year."
Proctor said it's been a much smoother beginning to the season knowing who's going to be on the team for the opening game instead of scrambling to find players in order to fill the league's minimum roster spots.
"It's huge for sure. It's a lot of work first of all and instead of focusing on player development, games and getting people in certain roles where you're scrambling to put a full roster on the floor," Proctor said.
"In reality, I'm happy we were able to play last year and I think we got a lot out of it ... we made the best out of our situation and I think the players got a lot out of it and the experience we gained from it was really helpful. Now we're able to start progressing with the long term development plan so we're happy with that."
The team finished last season with a 6-12 record, good for fifth in the division and out of a playoff spot. Proctor said the first few seasons would be used as a learning tool in order to become more competitive down the line.
"Lots of it depends on what the rest of the league is doing. There's pros and cons to it ... I'm really not that concerned with wins and losses as we aren't result focused because there's so much out of our control," Proctor said.
"How good are the other teams in this league and things like that. Right now we're in the hardest division in the province so we have to finish in the top three in order to make the playoffs and we play all the teams in our division twice while we play everyone else once. We have a harder schedule and a lower chance of sneaking into the playoffs. I'm not results based, we'll play the game and see how the players pick up the systems, how they develop and take the season in stride. I'm not really worried about the win-loss record this year but we do expect our winning percentage to come up."
The Rage will open their season in Olds against the Stingers, a team the Rage went 1-1 against last season, losing 7-6 in overtime in their inaugural game before defeating them 10-8 later in the season. The game will begin at 2:30 p.m.
