The Cowichan River Rats senior men’s lacrosse team is still looking for their first win of the season following a 16-4 loss to the Express on the road on Thursday, May 16.
Injury riddled, the Rats went into the game with an atypical team, begging, borrowing, and forcing players out of retirement to fill their roster.
“Showing up with 10 players will always make it a difficult task to win,” said team spokesperson Dylan Dewarle after the game.
The Rats borrowed players from the Westshore Warriors, as well as coaxed Josh Van Wieran out of retirement after 11 seasons off. “He had an excellent game on defence blocking outside shots and showed off some dangles on the offensive side,” Dewarle noted.
Van Wieran earned the Despard Contracting Player of the Game honours in his comeback game.
Down two goals midway through the first period, Aaron Bernasky scored on a Dewarle assist to pull the Rats to within one.
Jason Bernasky then tied it up for the visiting team. Dan Rabey got the assist.
From there, the Express rattled off six unanswered goals before Aaron Bernasky fed one of the team’s spares who scored the 8-3 goal for Cowichan.
Two Express goals later, Aaron Bernasky took a pass from Jason Bernasky and made it 10-4 but that’s as close as Cowichan would get, with the Express going on to score six more in a row to take the commanding 16-4 victory.
The Rats look to get in the win column this coming Saturday, May 25 at 7 p.m. at the Cowichan Community Centre arena.
“Help us fill the big stick and watch, as we are confident we will be turning the season around with some big wins in our near future,” said Dewarle.
The Cowichan Thunder senior men’s lacrosse team had the weekend off but suit up again Thursday, May 23 against the Jokers at Archie Browning Arena.
The Thunder then play at home on May 25, in an 8:30 p.m. game against the Tugmen.
Junior B squad earns first win
In Junior B lacrosse action, the Cowichan Thunder scored their first win of the season in a 15-7 victory over the Oceanside Sharks on May 11.
Nate Akhurst led the way with seven points on two goals and five assists while the team’s top scorer was Brett Beachamp with a hat trick and a helper for four points on the night.
Other goals came from Kaelann Grey (2), Josh MacDonald (2), Addison Urquhart (2), Easton Jubenville (2), Rees Aebischer, and Owen Papineau.
The Thunder played the Westshore Bears on Tuesday, May 21 and won their second in a row, 11-7.