Playoff lacrosse is coming to Hillmond this weekend.
After an unbeaten regular season in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League, the junior B Lloydminster Xtreme couldn’t be in any better of a position as they host the Parkland Posse of Spruce Grove in a best-of-three North Division Tier 2 semifinal.
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The Xtreme welcome the Posse to Hillmond Redden Arena for games at 4 p.m. Saturday, 11 a.m. Sunday and, if necessary, 4 p.m. Sunday.
“We’re healthy and we’re ready to roll,” said Lloydminster coach Graham Murray, whose Xtreme posted a perfect 16-0 record this season and earned a first-round playoff bye.
“We’re hungry. I feel like we’ve been starved the last couple of weekends here, where we just haven’t had anything to do.
“I assume we’re going to be ready to rock and we’re pumped to be playing at home. This is the goal every year, is to be at this point where we’re in playoffs and looking to advance to provincials for the fourth year in a row.”
The Xtreme are banking on strong support in the friendly confines of the Hillmond rink, which is their home base.
“It’s our last week at home and we’re looking for big crowds,” Murray said. “It would be nice to fill the barn and have a good atmosphere to see the team off to their fourth provincial trip.”
He cautioned, however, that Lloyd isn’t looking past the Posse (8-7-1), which swept the Red Deer Renegades in their first-round series.
“They’re a scrappy team,” Murray said. “They’ve got a good goaltender. We’ve got to keep a couple of their guys in check, and everything should be fine. We’ve just got to be sure that when we’re on offence, we’re taking quality shots, and we should be able to beat this goaltender.
“They’re a team that we’ve handled twice, but we’ve had issues with them. They’re athletic and they like to be physical. It’s a team that definitely poses some issues for us. But nothing, I think, that we can’t overcome.”
The juggernaut that is the Xtreme has given opponents fits all season long, whether it was Jayden Plamondon scoring goals or goaltender Ryker Gamble stopping them. Not to mention Lloyd’s well-rounded offence overall and its stingy defence.
“Our goals-against was under 100, which is crazy in lacrosse to have that,” Murray said. “We only gave up 65 goals against, and the closest to us was the Renegades with 111.
“So, to only give up 65 goals a year is a testament to how quality our goaltending and our defence is.”
Up front, the Xtreme offence has been going strong from the get-go. Plamondon finished second in league scoring with 85 points, while Jace Gunderson and Dalyn Hepburn each had 58. Plamondon was 15 points behind scoring champion Brandon McNalley, the St. Albert Crude’s 100-point man.
Murray believes Plamondon is “a much better player overall” than McNalley, who played on a weaker team and was relied on to provide much of its offence. “He gets huge point gains against bad teams.”
Either way, Plamondon’s 28 goals and 57 assists amounted to a striking performance.
“It’s his last year and I think he’s brought it more than ever this year,” said Murray. “He’s been an incredibly smart player this year. He leads on and off the (floor).”
In the other North semifinal, the Sylvan Lake Yetti face the Lakeland Heat.
The two survivors in each of the North and South divisions will play in the provincial championship tournament Aug. 1-4 in Calgary.
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