Phantoms enjoy golden weekend in Westlock
It was a double gold weekend as the Innisfail Phantoms U11 Black team and U13 Black team travelled to Westlock, Alberta, for the Rockfest U11/U13 Lacrosse Tournament Friday, May 2, through Sunday, May 4.
The U11 Phantoms opened their tournament at the Westlock Spirit Centre with a 10-1 win over the host Westlock Rock on Friday night behind an offensive onslaught from multiple players. On Saturday morning, they won 5-2 against the Sylvan Lake Buccaneers on the strength of a Wyatt Hurley hat trick before wrapping up the round robin with a 9-0 win against the Edmonton Wizards early Saturday evening, with Cohen Moffatt picking up the shutout for the Phantoms. Their 3 and 0 record saw them through to the gold medal game, where they squared off against the Sylvan Lake Buccaneers once again, prevailing 6-1 with Wyatt Hurley, Boden Levick, and Oliver Jacobsen providing the offence.
On the U13 side, the Phantoms beat the Westlock Rock 2 team 10-0 to open the tournament late Friday evening, with goalie Joshua Teskey picking up the shutout behind a balanced offence provided by Larrick McDermott, Jared Braun, Matthew Teskey, Kesler Burton, Hetfield Flaws (with four goals), and Austin Rieder. On Saturday afternoon, the Phantoms hit the floor to take on the Fort Saskatchewan Rebels, winning 5-1, behind goals from Sadie Leveille, Dysen Wadin (with two), and Austin Rieder (with two), before wrapping up the round robin portion of the tournament with an 8-1 win over the Westlock Rock 1 team, behind a Kesler Burton hat trick and goals from Matthew Teskey, Levi Bajema, Hetfield Flaws, Kaiden McAuley, and Stetson Stuart. Finishing first in their division, they faced a rematch against the Rebels in the gold medal final. The Phantoms were up 2-1 late in the third period, before the Rebels scored with one minute and 30 seconds left on the clock to knot the game at 2s. With overtime looming, the Phantoms's Austin Rieder got a breakaway and scored his third of the contest - the golden goal - with 10 seconds left in a 3-2 win.
