The Brooklin Redmen (9-1) strengthened their grip on first place in the Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) standings Thursday night with an 11-9 win over the Peterborough Lakers (5-6).
The Lakers flew out of the Peterborough Memorial Centre gates, establishing a 3-0 lead within the first 10 minutes of play thanks to goals from Mark Steenhuis, Aaron Wilson, and Adam Jones. Brooklin’s Mark Cockerton scored to end the early Peterborough onslaught at the halfway mark of the first. The Redmen would strike twice again in the opening frame, with a goal from Laker Matt Crough providing a 4-3 Peterborough lead.
During the second period, it was the Redmen who would benefit from a three-goal scoring spree with Cockerton netting his second of the game and Shayne Jackson scoring a pair of goals. Jones, who added two goals to complete an early hat-trick, was the lone scorer for Peterborough in the period.
A goal from Mark Steenhuis early in the final frame would do little to halt Brooklin’s momentum, as the Redmen responded with a four-goal run to lead Peterborough 10-7. The Lakers would respond, cutting the lead to within one; however, Dan Litner’s second of the game with just under three minutes remaining in regulation sealed the 11-9 victory for Brooklin.
Elsewhere in MSL action, the Six Nations Chiefs (7-5) were victorious over the Brampton Excelsiors (2-6) by a score of 7-4.
Kasey Beirnes opened the scoring for Six Nations, followed quickly by a Jeff Shattler tally to give the Chiefs an early two-goal advantage. After Brampton’s Matt Holman put his squad on the board with a powerplay marker, Shattler’s second of the period would give Six Nations a 3-1 lead heading into the second frame.
Brampton began the second by capitalizing on another man-up opportunity, with Brady Hesseltine cutting the lead to one. The Chiefs would again deflate the sails of an Excelsiors’ comebackas rookie Vaughan Harris netted back-to-back tallies to put Six Nations ahead 5-2.
A back-and-forth third period saw the teams exchange goals, as Beirnes found the back of the cage twice for Six Nations to complete a hat-trick while Chris Corbeil and Dustin Carvallo scored for Brampton. Despite the Excelsiors’ best efforts, Six Nations would posses the lead the entire game and emerge with a 7-4 win.
With a Six Nations win and a Peterborough loss, the Lakers now trail the Chiefs for second place in the league standings by four points. Both teams will take on the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks in weekend action; Six Nations’ hosting the Kodiaks on Saturday, July 5 and Peterborough travelling to the Waterloo Memorial Centre the following day.
Brooklin will have the chance to further extend their lead in the standings with a Saturday match-up with Brampton.
