Clutch scoring in third periods set the tone for a celebratory August long weekend that ended with the Lloydminster Xtreme winning the team’s first provincial junior B lacrosse championship in seven years.
Read more: Year in review: A look at events in July 2025
In each of their four wins over four days at the Tier 2 provincial tournament in Calgary, the Xtreme meshed timely scoring with stingy defence right down to the final buzzer of holiday Monday’s 9-8 gold-medal victory over the Southern Alberta Chaos of Taber.
“We just kept fighting, knowing what we can do, and executed when it mattered,” said Xtreme 11th-year coach Graham Murray, who also guided Lloydminster to its provincial title in 2018.
“In all the third periods this past weekend, we only gave up two goals (combined) in those four games. It was a case of playing clutch.”
Graduating goaltender Ryker Gamble exhibited that big-moment presence in style, springing across his crease in the dying seconds to preserve Lloyd’s championship win and trigger the celebration.
“Ryker stood on his head,” Murray said. “And we had a huge performance from rookie Blake Sheppard. He iced every single game in the third period, including the championship goal with two minutes left on Monday.”
It was the second time in as many days that Lloyd, the North Division champion, defeated the South Division-winning Chaos. The Xtreme prevailed 8-1 on Sunday when the eventual finalists met each other in preliminary play.
Murray knew the Chaos had rested some of their best players Sunday, so he still expected a hard-fought battle the next day. With injuries mounting, Lloyd didn’t have the same luxury of sitting out top guns in advance of the final.
The Xtreme depth was indeed extreme, as other players stepped up in the absence of the injured Ben Stachniak (arm), Zander Ryan (hand) and Eric Wallis (knee).
“It was a total team effort,” Murray said. “It took our whole 24-man roster. We are a sore bunch, but it was great to win.”
It was a big weekend for Vermilion’s Sheppard, the double goal-scorer Monday. In the North Division championship game Friday, he fired a third-period hat trick in an 11-7 victory over the Sylvan Lake Yetti. He added two more tallies in the final period of Saturday’s 9-3 win over the host Calgary Wranglers.
As always, Lloyd received heady performances from their offensive leaders. Jayden Plamondon collected six goals and nine points in the four weekend games, while Jace Gunderson and Dalyn Hepburn each posted eight points and Sheppard and Rogan Macnab had seven apiece. Alex Hill added a couple of three-point games and Wallis had a two-goal night.
The 2025 run — unbeaten in 22 games — marked the fourth straight season that Lloydminster has won a provincial junior B medal, including two silver and one bronze.
The golden finish this past year was particularly gratifying for the Xtreme’s four graduating players — the long-serving Gamble, Hepburn and Plamondon, along with relative newcomer Larrin Thiessen, back in town for this season after playing junior football with the Edmonton Wildcats.
After a silver-medal finish last year, Murray changed his pre-championship game speech this Heritage Day.
“In past years, I’d revert to a championship speech my rugby coach (in Ontario) used to give, which basically ends with, ‘I’d rather be a lion for one day rather than a lamb my whole life.’
“But, with this one, I thought I had to try something different, and talked about just how good of friends everybody on the team is. The friendship group that we have is something special. ‘If we are selfless, we will win this game.’
I think it really summed up our team.”
This coming summer, the Xtreme will certainly miss their four graduating players, but the future remains bright.
“We’ve been a perennial provincial contender every year since 2018,” Murray said. “I think we run the best Tier 2 program in lacrosse. If kids don’t want to go play Tier 1 and they want to stay home and play with their friends, this is the place to do it.”
Lloyd’s two provincial championship lacrosse teams shared similarities, despite the seven-year gap between them.
“A common theme between both teams is that we had great goaltending, with great defence and clutch scoring from our offence,” Murray said.
Not to mention quality coaching.
Read more: Year in review: A look at events in August 2025
