The referees decided that it was time to end the game once water bottles were being used as projectiles.
On Monday at the Memorial Arena, the Kelowna Raiders were in town to take on the South Okanagan Flames junior B lacrosse team. Early in the third, close to 10 bottles were thrown onto the playing surface from the Raiders bench, which was reacting to a penalty.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before — that was weird,” said Flames Chris Pond.
The forward, who sits atop the Thompson Okanagan Junior Lacrosse League scoring stats, “came ready to play” earning 13 points en route to a 15 – 6 victory.
Pond said the Raiders seemed to be upset throughout the game, but he isn’t sure what sparked the final frustration. The Flames four goals in as many shots in the third period, earning Pond the double hat trick, didn’t help.
Less than five minutes into the final period the disgruntled Raiders resorted to chucking their water bottles.
“I’ve seen guys get tossed before, but I’ve never seen someone throw something like that,” Pond said.
In the first period, the Raiders clocked 19 penalties, compared to the Flames four. With an extra 15 minutes of power play, the Flames were able to take a 5 – 2 lead by the end of the first.
The Raiders showed some life in the second period, by scoring four goals, but the Flames out powered them with six of their own, bringing the tally to 11 – 6 after 40 minutes.
“They’re at the bottom of the league … but they came out hard on us in the second,” said Brenden Deverill of the Flames.
Isaiah Kozak, who scored a goal and an assist for the Flames, said it could have been easy to get caught up in the moment with so much adrenaline pumping, but his team knew to keep their heads in the game.
“Not do stupid things like throw water bottles.”
With their win against the Raiders, the Flames surpassed the .500 mark in the standings, and sit in second place behind the Vernon Tigers, who have won all 10 of their games so far this season.
South Okanagan’s next game is at home against the Armstrong Shamrocks on June 16.
