The Peterborough Timbermen split their Family Day weekend with one win and one loss. They prevailed over the Paris RiverWolves 16-12 on Saturday at Children’s Arena but lost a 15-14 heartbreaker in overtime to St. Catharines at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena.
The Timbermen had most of their big guns in the lineup on Saturday as they took it to the RiverWolves, who only floored 12 runners, early and often in the first quarter, building up a 6-1 lead. Colton Armstrong played more of an offensive role than a transitional one on Saturday and had a hat trick in the frame. The Timbermen closed out the half at 9-5 after a fourth from Armstrong.
The RiverWolves put together a solid third quarter but had too big of a hole to dig out of after Cameron Simpson and Joe Hall scored early on. Josh Medeiros, who had five goals, sandwiched a Dan Keane marker but a shorthanded goal from Simpson stopped the RiverWolves’ momentum.
“I could see their fatigue on the offensive side, the way they were playing defence,” Simpson said. “Their pick and rolls were a little bit easier to go through and they kind just started to go for big hits instead of being smart positionally. That made it easier for us.”
Armstrong (5G/2A) and Simpson (4G/3A) were the leaders on Saturday with seven points each. Aaron Woods hat a hat trick and two assists and captain Mark Vradenburg scored once while assisting on five goals.
Sunday, the Timbermen were amped up to face the league’s number one team and led by Vradenburg’s four goals and two assists, had an 11-6 lead at halftime. But fatigue set in for the Timbermen against the rested ShockWave and they took over the second half of the game, tying it by the end of the third. The teams went back and forth with the Shockwave holding three one-goal leads before Aaron Woods sent the game to overtime. Brooker Muir ended it 1:14 in.
Vradenburg finished Sunday’s game with five goals and three assists. Fred Hartley scored a hat trick and added two assists, Aaron Woods scored twice and added three helpers and Doug Utting had two goals and one assist.
Nick Damude played well in goal both games.
“We were drastically shorthanded with commitments that players had due to Family Day so it was a tough weekend but we went at them as hard as we could,” head coach Joe Sullivan stated. “We’re the top two teams in the league and it was a great game. We had the same heart that we saw Paris put on yesterday when they were short numbers.”
Sunday’s loss to first-place St. Catharines temporarily drops them to third place in the Arena Lacrosse League standings, behind the Toronto Monarchs by virtue of goals for/against.
Next Saturday the Timbermen are in Paris at Syl Apps Community Centre for a rematch with the RiverWolves.
Oshawa Outlaws 12 @ Whitby Steelhawks 16
The Steelhawks picked up their second win of the season defeating arch-rival Oshawa at Children’s Arena on Saturday. It was an overly-physical, fight-filled affair in which a combined 146 penalty minutes were racked up, including 46 minutes in minors, eight major penalties and six game misconducts including one to Oshawa’s coach.
Whitby led 4-1 after Oshawa was hit with two majors 23 seconds apart. Oshawa captain Mike Triolo had four goals in the second quarter as the Outlaws fought back, but still trailed 9-6 at halftime. Mark Debrone fought Paxton Leroux two minutes into the second.
Whitby increased their lead to four by the end of the third on a three-goal run after Oshawa had pulled within a goal. Mitch Gustavsen and Whitby captain Garrett Lewis jawed at each other the whole fourth quarter, receiving unsportsmanlike minors twice each before they were ejected from the game. Rob Kloepfer and Dalton Lundy fought with 40 seconds remaining.
Triolo and Luke Laszkiewicz led the Outlaws with 4G/2A each, while John St. John contributed 3G/3A. Josh Toguri had the other Oshawa goal.
Dylan Reilly had 4G/1A for Whitby which also got big games from Cam Milligan (1G/6A), Chad Culp (3G/3A), Luke Pilcher (1G/4A), Garrett Eddy (3G) and Jeff Fernandes (2G/1A).
Toronto Monarchs 9 @ Six Nations Snipers 7
The Monarchs took over second place with a 9-7 win over the Snipers at the ILA on Sunday.
Tyler Ferreira and Jordan Medeiros scored in the first to give Toronto a 2-0 lead. Six Nations came alive in the second, outscoring Toronto 4-3 but still trailing at the half 5-4.
Toronto won the third quarter 3-0 to double up on the Snipers. Six Nations closed the gap to 8-6 in the fourth but Campbell Parker’s goal with 4:25 left gave the Monarchs the insurance they needed. Six Nations got one back with 24 seconds left.
Ferreira led the Monarchs with a hat trick and one assist. Monarchs’ goaltender Joel Watson was named the first star of the game. Tyler Brown led the Snipers with a hat trick, Justin Martin had two goals and Skye Sunday had five assists.
Only three minor penalties were called the entire game.
