After a sluggish start to the regular season, the Estevan Tarpon Energy Big Dogs have won two of their last three games.
The Big Dogs (2-6) won their second straight meeting against the Regina Riot 21-10 on Saturday at Spectra Place, wrapping up a long day of local lacrosse action that included the Prairie Gold Lacrosse League All-Star Game.
The prolific pair of Dylan Smith and Rhett Handley dominated the game, with Smith piling up nine goals and four assists, and Handley adding four goals and 12 assists, for a combined 29 points.
Cole MacCuish (3-1), Tanner Froese (2-1), Ryan Frehlick (1-4), Michael Bittman and Tison Schoenthal rounded out the scoring for Estevan. Ty Currie added three assists.
Tanner Poole starred for the Riot (2-3-1), with five goals and two assists. Brandon Dumaine (1-4), Alex Kratz (1-4), Owen Thompson (1-2), Sheldon Maher (1-1) and Cole Phillips also scored.
"Pretty much right off the bat, I said we had to make sure we looked after our own zone first and if we did that, the goals would come. It seemed to pay off. We played a lot better defensively, stopped them from getting a lot of shots and it worked out well for us," said Big Dogs head coach Evan Handley.
The Big Dogs led 6-2 after the first period and 14-7 after the second.
"I think we match up well against them. They don't have a big team and they're not as strong or fast as some of the other teams."
Several players on both teams were playing in their second game of the day after suiting up in the All-Star Game, but Handley said it didn't affect the outcome because both teams had roughly the same number of All-Stars.
Handley said one reason for the team's recent upswing is that players are now assigned to either offence or defence like the other PGLL teams. In the past, the Big Dogs didn't have enough players to do that effectively.
"We've played a lot better defensively. Maybe it took that amount of time for our offence and defence to kick in. Having guys adjust to play (only) defence allows them to concentrate on that area more. This year we have the guys to do it."
The Big Dogs have two regular season games left, one at home against the Moose Jaw Mustangs on Saturday (6 p.m.) and another home game against the Yorkton Bulldogs on either June 28 or June 30 (date to be determined).
"Against Moose Jaw, we have to come out and play good defence the entire game. If we don't do that, it's not going to go well. Against Yorkton, that's a game that we just have to come out and right off the bat, take it to them offensively and defensively and hit them hard, because they're a team that takes some penalties.
The Big Dogs have a shot at hosting a playoff game if they win both contests.
