The Brampton Inferno defeated the Toronto Shooting Stars in a game that was marred by a bench clearing brawl with just 35 seconds left in the game. There were 9 game misconducts handed out on the play and a total of 13 in the game. When the dust settled referee Brent McCauley signalled to the timekeeper to run the clock out, thus giving the Inferno a 9-7 victory and ending Toronto’s four game winning streak.
This was a rough game right from the get go with Ben McCullough and Jon Durno dropping the gloves just one second into the game. That set the tone as we saw a total of 266 minutes in penalties over the next 60 minutes.
It’s expected that the Canadian Lacrosse League will hand out a few suspensions after they review this game. Josh Ruys and Brock Boyle will mostly likely get the biggest punishments as they came back out from their dressing rooms to join the melee. Both men were sent to their rooms a couple minutes prior after they got into a wrestling match behind the net. As soon as Ruys involved himself in the brawl, a bare chested Boyle jumped back on the turf and darted across the floor to take him on.
Although it was overshadowed by the ugliness, there was a lacrosse game last night too. The Inferno opened the scoring with four straight goals and it took most of the first quarter before the Shooting Stars would answer back; it was 4-1 after the first.
Toronto’s Aaron Grayson would open the scoring in the second quarter followed by a Mack O’Brien goal just 51 seconds later. That was as close as they would get though as the Inferno would score two more unanswered goals including a nice one by Ryan Campbell who led all scorers with 2 goals and 3 assists. The Shooting Stars applied pressure late in the fourth but Dustin Caravello would seal the deal for Brampton with 1:14 left in the game.
Jay Preece stole the show as he made 46 saves for Brampton while Brad Levick led the way for Toronto with 1 goal and 4 assists. Gail Wasson-McQuigge took in her first CLax game of the season and although Toronto lost, her boys played an impression game. Her youngest son Joel chipped in one assist while older brother Josh, Toronto’s captain, had 2 goals and 1 assists.
Toronto is right back at it tonight as they host the first place Niagara Lock Monsters at 8pm while the Inferno travel to Durham tomorrow to take on the TurfDogs in a 2pm matinee. Both games can be heard live on The Lacrosse Radio Network.
