The St. Albert Miners buried the Edmonton Outlaws in a deep hole last weekend in the senior B playoffs.
And in order to stay alive in the best-of-five semifinal the Outlaws had to win game three Tuesday after losing 13-9 and 11-8 to the defending provincial champions.
"We definitely want to get it over with but we can't look too far ahead to the next series," Miners' captain Nate Schmidt said Sunday after his second hat trick in the series.
The score from Bill Hunter Arena was unavailable at press time.
"No one wants to get swept 3-0. We know they're going to come hard. It will be the hardest game yet all season and we've got to keep battling," said Graedon Cornfield, a dangerous scorer who filled the net twice in both wins in St. Albert.
Games four and five, if required, go Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Bill Hunter and Saturday at 8 p.m. at Performance Arena.
The winner plays the first-place Okotoks Raiders in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League final for the right to represent Alberta in the Presidents' Cup national championship.
Last year the Miners knocked off Okotoks in the fifth and deciding game on their home floor. At nationals they finished 2-4 for sixth place in the seven-team round robin.
"The thing we have now is more experience. We've been to the national level last year so we know what to expect. We've played in tight games at provincials too. We went to game five last year [and won 11-4] so we know what to do," said Schmidt, the Miners' point leader in the playoffs (17-12-29 in nine games) and at nationals (14-10-24).
This year the Miners (12-5-1) trailed the Raiders (13-5) by one point in the standings after finishing on top at 14-4 in 2010.
"We have kind of the same mindset as last year. We take it one game at a time and don't look too far ahead," Schmidt said. "We've got a target on our backs now from winning last year and that's maybe the only difference."
In the offseason the Miners strengthened their roster with the addition of Cornfield's brother Jordan from the Spruce Grove Slash for the rights to Craig Vermette and an exchange of 2012 draft picks.
Role players Steve Zwack and Aiden Inglis were also brought on board in a deal with the Outlaws that involved Kris Hicks and Jordan Long.
"The big thing about our team is depth," said Cornfield, the league's top sniper this year with 31 goals in 18 games. "Last year we had a couple of go-to guys but we made some big moves in the offseason and we've got a lot more depth so it's not like anyone can shut down certain guys. Our offence is so deep that anyone on our team can score. You try and take away one guy and another guy will step up and score."
Jordan finished fifth in league scoring with 53 points, 14 back of his brother's first place totals.
Cornfield's main set-up man, Sean Reid, placed second overall with 22 goals and a league-high 40 assists.
"Sean is a great passer. I like working with the guy. He had a great season, said Cornfield.
The repeat winner of the Harris Toth Award as the division's most prolific scorer registered 12 fewer goals and 16 fewer points in 16 games than his league high the previous season.
"It feels good to do it again. I'm definitely feeling confident but the big reason why I got so many points is because we have a great team," said the runner-up to Schmidt in points in the playoffs (13-13-26) and nationals (8-12-20).
Scoring spree
Last weekend a balanced scoring attack overpowered the Outlaws despite the valiant effort of netminder Mitch Anders. Eight Miners combined for 13 goals Friday and seven different players connected in the second tilt.
"In both games we got off to a good start. We got an early lead and then ended up kind of coughing it up and getting into a closer game than we would've liked but we battled back and came out with the win. No matter what comes our way, we just battle through it. It's all about team play and driving hard," said Schmidt the team's MVP in 2010 with 48 goals and 80 points in 17 games.
In the series opener the Miners racked up five goals in the opening nine minutes en route to leads of 6-2 after the first period and 10-6 after 40 minutes. Brad Scott and the slippery Shane Lopatynski potted a pair each.
Game two was somewhat closer as the Miners posted period leads of 4-3 and 8-5. Steve Tessarola chipped in with two goals.
"Both games were pretty similar. Friday we were ahead a little bit more throughout the game. With our team it's tough sometimes playing with leads. We would like to play it a little bit tighter and today it was tighter," Cornfield said. "Coming in [to game two] we knew we had to come out with 110 per cent. We had to start strong right off the bat. We pulled ahead a little bit and then kind of let our tempers get to us a little bit and we started pulling back instead of keep going hard."
After Schmidt struck the first goal 63 seconds into Sunday's contest, the Outlaws asked the referee to measure netminder David Marrese's leg pads. It was ruled they were legit and the Outlaws were penalized for delay of game.
"They have to be a certain width. If too wide, it's illegal equipment and he is kicked out of the game," Schmidt said. "He is our number one goalie so they were trying to mess with him."
The dubious move by the Outlaws backfired, as Schmidt's brother, Chris, capitalized 47 seconds into the penalty to make it 2-0. Chris finished the match with three assists.
"It was definitely a momentum booster for us, especially when we scored on the power play. It puts the game in our favour right off the start so it was good to see," said Schmidt, 23, a geologist who honed his skills in New Westminster, a lacrosse hotbed, and with the South Edmonton Warriors.
Late in the game with the Outlaws on the power play down by two goals, Cornfield sealed the deal with a wicked shot with 31 seconds left in the penalty kill and 3:12 to play.
"I knew at the end of the game we needed one more and I just buried it," said Cornfield, 24, a product of the Millwoods Warriors program. "If we get up by a couple of goals, sometimes we sit back and get into that mindset of laying back and kill the clock but we couldn't do that. We had to keep pushing to put them away."
