The Rocky Rams kicked off the regular season over the weekend with a win and a loss in front of hometown crowds at the Rocky Arena Complex.

For game one on Friday night, the team trailed nearly the entire 60 minute stretch, falling 4-2 to the visiting Three Hills Thrashers.

“It was a good start, I think some of our veteran guys tried to do a little too much,” says head coach, Wendall Mason. “Our younger guys were a little nervous. It’s a learning experience, you chalk it up and you move forward.”

However, Saturday was a completely different story, seeing the Rams not trailing at any point during the game, skating away with a 3-1 win against the Mountainview Colts.

The weekend matchups saw a standout performance from the newest member of the team in the newly-acquired, 18-year-old forward Cooper Lawrence.

Lawrence led the team in scoring, finding the net once in each of the opening tilts.

“Coop’s a high-octane player,” says Mason. “That’s just part of his game, going hard to the net.”

Lawrence played on the Red Deer Northstar Chiefs U-17 AAA program in 23/24, but opted out of going back to U18 AAA to pursue junior, says Mason, who anticipates the new acquisition will be a solid top-six forward who will add physicality to the lineup.

Mason adds, other standout performances came from gutsy, 5-on-5 minutes from the team’s third line of Clayton Johnson, Gradey Landry and Owen Green, as well as rookie goaltender Cole McLean’s unflappable performance during Saturday’s win against Mountainview.

The 1-1 Rams will next play the High River Flyers Saturday night at home.

“The (Flyers) have dropped the first couple games of the season, they’ve lost a couple players to Okotoks,” says Mason. “A bit of a younger squad than what they’ve had, but they work hard and they keep coming at you.”

Puck drop is Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m.