Comets heading to St. Albert this weekend for rugby 7s provincial tournament

Posted on May 22, 2025 by admin

By Garrett Simmons
Westwind Weekly News

Raymond’s girls rugby 7s team will head north this weekend for the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association provincial tournament.

The Comets took a tough road to provincials, as the team needed a heart stopping zone semifinal victory, 15-14 over Catholic Central, to keep its path alive.

“It was crazy,” said Comets coach Dan Bikman of his team’s one-point win. “It was such a tight game.”

But that win guaranteed Raymond a spot in the tournament, as the zone final was against Lethbridge Collegiate Institute, a team that was not going to provincials.

With his team’s spot secured, Raymond utilized its entire bench. In the end, LCI came out on top 22-0.

“I ran my whole roster through in that game to give them an opportunity to play such a good team,” said Bikman. “We used it as a developmental opportunity.”

The hope is, that experience will pay off this weekend at provincials in St. Albert, where Raymond will open play on Friday.

As always, Bikman added the 7s event should be wide open, as it’s impossible to know what to expect from each and every school in the tournament.

“Every program is so different when you reduce it to your 10 fastest players,” said Bikman, who added a struggling 15s team can look vastly different in a hurry.

And while Raymond’s 7s will go for gold this weekend, the 15s team will have to wait until Monday, June 2 for a shot at the zone title against LCI.

It will be a rematch that should live up to its billing, as LCI and Raymond are coming off a 19-19 draw in the only regular season meeting. That game had its ups and downs, according to Bikman, as the Comets did not get off to a good start.

“LCI went up 12-0 on us about five minutes in,” he said.

Raymond went on to score the next 19 points to take a lead late in the contest.

“Our kids reorganized, dug in and played,” said Bikman of his team’s turnaround. “The temptation would have been to roll over and they didn’t do that. They played a solid possession game the rest of the way against them, which was awesome.”

But LCI scored late and hit a massive convert to tie things up, as the teams battled to their first draw since 2009. That season, LCI and Raymond played to two ties, as both games ended 0-0.

“LCI’s an awesome team,” said Bikman. “They’re the defending champions and we knew they’d be very good.”

Raymond also beat CCH 68-0 in league play and also took first place at a tournament in Red Deer, as the Comets dispatched Bert Church and Lacombe to reach the final against Sturgeon Composite. In the final, the Comets emerged with a 40-0 win.

“It was tight at the beginning but eventually our fitness and our system helped us run away with it.”