It was the ultimate compliment that reflected just how explosive and dangerous the Richmond Roadrunners can be.
Trailing by three goals in their pivotal B.C.
Intermediate "A" Lacrosse League showdown with the Roadrunners, the Victoria Shamrocks looked to be in a ideal situation to draw closer when the hosts were accessed a penalty. At least so it seemed.
Instead of doing everything they could to score with the man advantage, the Shamrocks were content to sit back and allow Richmond to rag the ball for two minutes. It was a strategy the Island visitors employed for the entire contest rather than be vulnerable to shorthanded goals. It didn't work as the Roadrunners capped a huge week in their season with a 12-9 victory on Sunday afternoon to take a stranglehold of first place with a sparkling 11-1 record.
a sparkling 11-1 record. The Shamrocks (9-4) are now four points back with Richmond looking to extend the margin when Maple Ridge visits Minoru Arena tonight at 8 p.m.
"That's the first time I have ever seen that given what was at stake," said Roadrunners coach Greg Rennie of Victoria's tactics. "You might see that happen with a bottom end team going up against a powerhouse but not when you have two of the best teams going head-to-head like that. We are dangerous shorthanded and have some set plays that we do run but it also says something about the calibre of our players we are putting on the floor when they don't even want to try and double team them.
"When we looked at the schedule at the start of the season, we knew these four games (including tonight against Maple Ridge) would be the season for us. The guys have overcome injuries and other distractions to really come up big and put us in an excellent position to be the top seed going into the playoffs."
Richmond advanced to the provincial championships for the first time in recent memory last season, eventually settling for fourth place after an overtime loss to Langley.
The Roadrunners did have some impressive talent returning including two-way standout Jordan Gilles and first-year sensation Cody Nass who currently leads the league in scoring. However, the roster turnover was expected to be significant enough for locals to likely take a step back.
That's where Rennie's recruiting instincts kicked in.
The 2010 B.C. Junior "A" Lacrosse League coachof-the-year with the Delta Islanders, who is well-connected in the box and field lacrosse community, landed six players from the Surrey/ White Rock field lacrosse team.
"A lot of people didn't expect this kind of a season (so far)," continued Rennie. "I think we were touted to be a middle of the pack team but our roster came together
nicely and, more importantly, this is a place where kids want to play.
"I've had some offers (from other junior 'A' and senior teams) but this is a great organization that I want to be part of."
