As the trees begin the change and the cooler weather approaches us, some may think of NFL football but others think of CUFLA lacrosse season. The 2012 campaign kicked off this weekend with ten teams in action in eight games.
Saturday:
Bishop’s 12 Queen’s 2
The defending Baggataway champions the Bishops Gaiters dominated Queen’s university in their season opener. Although not tested often, New Westminster, BC native David Bigley stood tall in the Gaiters season opener.
McGill 10 Trent 9
McGill had a scare in their season opener as the Trent had a 9-5 lead on the Redmen at the end of the first half. The Redmen offense exploded in the second half closing the gap to 12-9 at the end of three. The Excalibur were shut out in the 4th quarter while McGill buried three to take the 10-9 victory. Freshman Richie Klares recorded a hat-trick in his CUFLA debut, including the game-winner with 2:24 left in the game. Orangeville, Ontario native Leland de Langley netted a pair of goals and two assists in the Redmen victory.
Laurentian 8 McMaster 6
Laurentian opened their season on Saturday in front a emphatic Voyageurs crowd. Laurentian’s Matt Volpe opened the scoring for the game 20 seconds into the game. 8 minutes later, Jamie Batten evened the score on the powerplay. Both each added another goal to end out the quarter. Each team only found the back of the net once as they remained tied 3-3 at the end of the first half. The third quarter was all Voyageurs as they buried 5 goals to pull away from the Marauders 7-3 at the end of three. In the final frame McMaster made a push burring three goals but it would not be enough to catch Laurentian making the Voyageurs victorious in their first game of the 2012 campaign. Clint Lamarsh tallied a hat-trick and a pair of assists to lead the Voyaguers to the win. The Marauders Jamie Batten found the back of the cage twice and added an assist while Carter Williams added a goal and two assists in the MacMaster loss.
Guelph 14 Toronto 13
The battle between the Gryphons and Varsity Blues was worth the price of admission as the players put on a show at Varsity Stadium Saturday night in Toronto.
Guelph hopped out to a 3-2 lead in the 1st quarter with including two goals from Mike Burke and veteran Toronto Beaches alumni Paul Forster.
University of Toronto’s Ryan Paris answered quickly with 56 seconds into the second quarter to tie the game at 3. Toronto would then score two more goals within the 13 minute mark to take the lead by two for the Varsity Blues. Freshmen Brendan Vogan cut the lead to one with 1:24 left in the 1st half.
Mike Burke opened the third quarter with a pair of goals to take the lead back for the Gryphons. Eric Hubert extended the lead by two for Guelph until Michael Buwalda cut the lead by one with an unassisted marker with 6:43 remaining in the third quarter. Hubert chalked up his second goal of the night but Toronto answered with two more goals to knot the game up at 8 to head into the final frame.
Mike Burke once again opened the quarter with a goal for the Gryphons finding the net for the fifth time this game. U of T’s Lucas Wood answered back quickly two minutes later to tie the game back up at 9.
Burke continued his dominant goal scoring as he buried his sixth goal of the game to give his team the 10-9 lead. Jordan Daradick added to the Guelph lead with a marker with 12:12 left in the game.
The game went back and forth with two goals each until Ryan Paris squeaked one by Guelph goaltender Jeremy Snider to bring the Varsity Blues within one.
With 34 seconds left in the final frame, James Buwalda found Jordy Robertson who then blasted a shot by Snider to tie the game at 13 and send the game into overtime.
With Jordan Daradick scored his hat-trick goal with 39 second into the second half of OT to give the Gryphs a 14-13 lead. Daradick’s OT marker was the loan goal in OT and would eventually be the game winner.
Mike Burke lead the Gryphons with an impressive 6 goals and 1 assist for 7 points.
Michael Buwalda lead the Varsity Blues with a pair of goals and 4 helpers. Toronto Beaches Jr.A player also had a stellar game finding the net 4 times and adding an assist.
Sunday:
Bishop’s 12 Trent 6
Trent gave the defending CUFLA champions a first quarter scare as they hopped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter with goals from Mike Temple and Jordan Hill.
The Bishop’s Gaiters responded big as they buried 7 unanswered goals.
Trent hopped out to a hot start netting three markers to close the gap to 7-5.
Bishop’s Alex Henderson nabbed a unassisted goal with 1:15 left in the 3rd frame to add to the Gaiters lead.
Bishop’s out scored the Excalibur 4-0, ending the game to a score of 12-6 in favor of the 2011 Baggataway champions.
Alex Henderson and Joseph Laleune lead the Gaiters in scoring with 5 points each.
The midfielder from Toronto Gareth Gibson also had a solid performance with a pair of goals and added a helper.
McGill 13 Queen’s 10
Western 13 Toronto 5
Toronto looked to bounce back from their heart breaking OT loss in their home opener and pick up their first win against the Western Mustangs on Sunday afternoon at beautiful TD Waterhouse Stadium in London,Ontario.
Western hopped out to a 3-1 lead in the first quarter with a pair of goals from Clairington native Ryan McCrory and a goal from Toronto Beaches alumni Dylan Ham.
The Mustangs stretched their lead with three unanswered goals to kick off the second quarter, including freshmen Jordi Jones-Smith nabbing his first CUFLA goal of his career.
Lucas Wood replied for the Varsity Blues with a power play goal to stop the bleeding, but the Mustangs ripped the wound back open with two goals to bring the lead to 8-3.
U of T’s Jordy Robertson tallied his fifth goal of the season on the powerplay to cut the Mustangs lead to 8-4.
Dylan Ham knotted two goals to nab the hat-trick and bring Western up 10-4.
Micheal Buwalda opened the scoring in the final quarter on the powerplay to bring the Varsity Blues within five.
Freshmen Sam Neeb netted his first CUFLA goal in his first game four minutes in to the fourth quarter to give the Mustangs a 11-4 lead over U of T.
Western’s Sean Frankland buried the ball by the Varsity Blues’ netminder Lowell Hunt to make the score 12-4.
Each team added a goal to end the contest at 13-5.
Dylan Ham lead Western in scoring with a trio of goals and an assist.
U of T’s Lucas Wood added a goal and an assist each for two points and a team hogh for the day.
Western was lead on the defensive end by Senior defenders Eric Pitre and Ryan Cavanagh.
Brock 10 Guelph 8
Brock University and University of Guelph lacrosse programs opened a new chapter of their Western Conference rivalry as the Badgers opened their 2012 season against the 1-0 Gryphons.
Buffalo Bandit Steve Priolo opened the scoring 43 seconds into the game, blasting a shot with a longpole behind Gryphons goaltender Jeremy Snider.
Brock leading scorer Jordan Weedmark found the back of the cage at the 17:30 mark giving BU a 2-0 lead.
The Gryphons answered back with two goals from Connor Deuchars and Mike Burke.
Toronto native Duchars netted his second goal of the game 14 seconds into the second frame.
The Gryphons dominated on fast breaks allowing them to continue their run, nabbing 4 more goals to give them a 7-2 lead at the end of the first half.
The second half was all Badgers as Ian Duffy and their defense held the Gryphs to one goal in the second half. The Brock outscored Guelph 5-1 in the third and 3-0 in the fourth.
Senior Weedmark lead the Badgers in scoring by finding the back of the net three times. Sophomore Mark Vradenburg also tallied three points, but did it with assists.
Newcomer from Canisius College Travis Gibbons netted two goals in his CUFLA debut.
The Badgers received stellar play between the pipes from Senior Ian Duffy grabbing 15 saves. The Ajax,Ontario native also did a fantastic job the transitioning the ball up field enabling the Badgers to create fast breaks.
Although the Gryphons fell to Badgers, Guelph received great depth in scoring.
Deuchars, Burke, Jordan Daradick and Eric Hubert each chalked up three points.
After the weekend, the defending Baggataway champions Bishop’s and their Eastern conference rivals McGill both kick off their season at 2-0. Laurentian, Western and Brock each have 1-0 records. Trent, Queen’s and U of T each end opening weekend 0-2. McMaster sits at 0-1 while Concordia, Carleton and Laurier have yet to hit the field in the 2012 CUFLA season.
