The Barrie Blizzard are coming off their first win of the season and they’ll look to build on that today as they host the Ohsweken Demons. The Blizzard looked good in their victory last weekend as they contained the Brampton Inferno to just eight goals.
John Rae has turned it up a notch in his last few games and played a big part in his team’s first win. Rae had a goal and two assists in the 9-8 win and made his presence felt at both ends of floor. Rae can take off at high speeds and when he gets going it’s tough for opponents to contain that big body. Look for him to keep driving to the net today.
There’s no doubt though that Caleb Wiles has been their best player this year. He hasn’t been able to dress in all of Barrie’s games this season but in the five that he has played in he’s racked up 29 points.
Wiles can score from anywhere on the floor and he gets hot today the Demons re in trouble.
Although he was quiet last game versus his former Inferno team, Jason Mainer has been a huge leader this year for the Blizzard. Mainer had a 7 point game earlier this year against Brampton and he followed that up the next weekend with 4 points versus the first place Toronto Shooting Stars.
Derek Collins got the win in net last Saturday for Barrie, making 52 saves. Scotty Komer has been their go to guy all season but we’ll have to wait until game time to see who gets the nod in goal.
Ohsweken on the other hand just lost their leading scorer Roger Vyse to the National Lacrosse League. Vyse inked a one year deal earlier in this week with the Toronto Rock as they look to make a run at the NLL’s Champions Cup. Vyse takes his 21 goals and 33 assists with him and will be sorely missed by the Demons.
Good news is the Demons have lots of depth which will make his loss less evident to their opponents. Wayne Van Every was a great addition to Ohsweken this year and is having a solid rookie season. The 2010 Buffalo Bandits draft choice has 27 goals and 17 assists and has scored at least 3 points in all but one of the nine games he’s played in. He’s scored six hat tricks this year plus he had a six goal sock trick in week one against the Iroquois Ironmen.
Goalie Jeff Powless has had a moderate season but at times has really stepped up for his team. Two weeks ago he was incredible as the Demons beat the number one Shooting Stars in a close 14-13 game. Powless made 37 saves including 2 huge stops in the dying minutes of the game. If he’s not on his game today it will be a great opportunity for the Blizzard to get their second win in a row.
If the Demons can beat the Blizzard this afternoon they will jump ahead of the Durham TurfDogs in the Canadian Lacrosse League standings, moving into third spot. Today’s game is a 2pm matinee at the Molson Centre in Barrie, about 35 minutes north of Toronto Ontario.
