After a four game win streak the Toronto Shooting Stars have lost two straight and will look to get back in the win column on Saturday against the Iroquois Ironmen. Toronto lost twice last week at home and are hoping to find luck on the road at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena in Hagersville Ontario. They played the Ironmen at home earlier this month and barely squeaked out a victory; winning the game by a score of 9-8. The Ironmen have only won two games this season and Toronto will need to capitalize on this opportunity of facing a much weaker team.
Goaltending was a bit of an issue for Toronto in their first meeting as Angus Dinely had a rough second quarter which allowed the Ironmen to stay in that game. Dinely has since been picked up by the National Lacrosse League’s Minnesota Swarm and it’s expected that Gary Muzzin will get the start in goal once again. Muzzin was in net on Friday and although his team lost he played a solid game against the first place Niagara Lock Monsters.
Aaron Grayson should be back in Shooting Stars’ lineup this weekend after being scratched versus Niagara due to work commitments. Grayson has been the driving force of Toronto’s offence this season but he’s not the only player who can carry the load. Brad Levick and Mack O’Brien have had great seasons thus far and Toronto will need them to produce on Saturday. O’Brien is coming off a 4 goal game against Niagara while Levick had 7 points (2g 5a) in the loss.
The Shooting Stars were tied for first going into last week but those two loses have put them four points behind the Lock Monsters and tied with the Ohsweken Demons for second place. After two straight wins the Brampton Inferno are right on Toronto’s heels, sitting just two points back going into week 11. With only three weeks left in the regular season the Shooting Stars need to put a string of wins together if they hope to have any momentum going into the post season.
Toronto is on the road for their last three games but that shouldn’t bother them as they have won 75 percent of their away games this season. However, with that being said, their only loss away from home was against the Demons; in the same arena where they will face the Ironmen this Saturday at 1pm.
