The Prince Albert Predators have set another milestone.
Thanks to a 14-3 road win over the host Saskatoon Swat, the team achieved their first undefeated regular season as they posted an 8-0-2 record to finish in first place in the Prairie Gold Lacrosse League’s junior division.
“The boys definitely deserve a pat on the back for the hard work they have put in,” Predators coach Tyson Fetch said. “They’ve shown the coaching staff that they are a resilient group as they’ve bounced back from a few deficits and they’ve played really well throughout the season.
“They’ve had to work for it though. There wasn’t many blowout games and every team came ready to play us, which you can see in our two ties with Standing Buffalo and Swift Current.”
In what was their first game since June 2, the Predators came out of the gates strong as they took a 4-1 lead after the opening period and never looked back.
“We thought about playing a lot of our affiliated players, but we have to weigh the pros and cons to that as that would have meant that our starters would have been off for almost three weeks before the league final,” Fetch said.
“Our goal was to have a good performance and brush off the cobwebs. There’s no substitute for game speed, even if you try to simulate through practices.”
Kale Amundrud had four goals for the Predators in the victory, which also the league’s leading scorer Tanner Vancoughnett score three times and dish out two helpers.
“We got goals from eight different players, which was good, and one of our affiliated players (Davin Ikert) had four assists in his first league game,” Fetch said.
“It’s hard to try and pick a standout guy as it was a total team effort, especially on defence. They didn’t a lot of shots inside and the big saves that Evan Beaulac had to make came when the game was pretty much decided.”
With the regular season championship, the Predators have earned a bye to the league final, which will take place next weekend at the Kinsmen Arena.
They will find out who their opponent will be on Tuesday evening as the Standing Buffalo Fighting Sioux will take on the host Swift Current Wolverines in the semifinal.
“It’s going to be business as usual for us at practice this week,” Fetch said.
“We’re not planning too make a lot of changes or add any new schemes. You really don’t want to change a lot of what you’re doing as a team when it’s working.”
Game one of the league final will take place on Saturday, June 22 at 7 p.m. with game two being held Sunday, June 23 at 1 p.m.
A third and deciding contest, if required, would be held immediately following Sunday’s matinee affair.
