Teat, Black Bears find offense, beat up on FireWolves

If you’re a fan of goal scoring and physicality when you watch lacrosse, Saturday night’s game between the hometown Albany FireWolves and the Ottawa Black Bears was the game for you. With a combined 27 goals and 90 penalty minutes, this game was full of action, however it was very lopsided when the clock hit zero.

All year long, fans have been wondering where the Jeff Teat of old has been. Well, he may have been lost for a few weeks, but he remerged in this game. A nine-point night from Teater and stout play from Zach Higgins in net, propelled the Black Bears to an 18-9 win over Albany at MVP Arena. We’ve been saying for weeks that an offensive explosion for Ottawa was imminent, well here ya have it. Let’s do it.

Out of those 27 total goals, 12 of them were scored in the first quarter, so the pace was fast and furious right from the opening whistle. Tye Kurtz opened the scoring for Albany, much to the glee of the home crowd, with his first just eight seconds into the game. 36 seconds later, Jacob Dubar buried his first in response, and this was the fifth time this season Dunbar opened the scoring for the Black Bears. If you’re a fan of sports betting, that might be an easy money-maker for you moving forward this season. Patrick Kaschalk answered back with his first, but Ottawa rattled off two-straight after that, one from Teat on the power play and the other from Ron John. Alex Simmons buried his first on the power play, but that’d be it for the Albany scoring the rest of the way in the first. The next six goals (seven including the first goal of the second quarter) belonged to Ottawa, and this was already starting to look like a runaway. Those six goals were scored by Matt Marinier, Teat four more times, giving him five in the quarter, and Kiel Matisz. Blink your eyes and it was 9-3 Black Bears after one.

The scoring settled down a bit in the second quarter, but the physicality ramped up. The seventh goal of the Ottawa run was courtesy of Dunbar, his second. Albany answered back with two-straight, one from Dyson Williams and the other from Ethan Walker. Once again, after Walker’s goal, the scoring stopped for the FireWolves. Cue another Ottawa run, this time being three-in-a-row to close out the second quarter. (seven goals in total for the run going into the third and fourth quarters) The goals in that run were all scored on the power play and were by Larson Sundown, Connor Kearnan, and Matisz. With just under two minutes left in the second, and after Matisz’s goal, the rough stuff ramped up. After a couple of “fights” and scuffles, a few players found themselves in the box for five-minute majors, one got a game misconduct, and cooler heads prevailed…for now. 13-5 Black Bears at the break.

“I think we just came in with a chip on our shoulder”, said Teat. “A little bit more hop in our step, we’re playing a little more unselfish. Right now, we’re just keeping it simple, making the right reads and shooting the ball.”

The third quarter was a lot of the same for Ottawa as they completely dominated this one. The Black Bears tacked onto their existing run with three more goals, all the while shutting out Albany in the frame. The scorers were John LaFontaine, Teat, and Reilly O’Connor on the power play. The Black Bears defense and Higgins deserve their flowers as well for completely taking the Albany offense out of the equation. This one was all but over, 16-5 Black Bears after three.

The seventh and final goal of the run, which spanned from the 9:17 mark in the second, all the way until the 13:22 mark of the fourth, was buried by O’Connor. For all the math fans out there, that’s a 25:55 scoreless drought for Albany. That drought came to an end in the fashion of a four-goal run for the FireWolves, but it wouldn’t be nearly enough. Those four goals were scored by Walker on the power play, Simmons twice, and Sam Firth. Dunbar buried his hat trick for good measure and that’d be all she wrote. Your final from the 518, 18-9 Black Bears. At the end of the fourth quarter, there were a few more game misconducts for Albany players as the frustration completely boiled over.

Players of the game for Ottawa were Teat (6+3), Dunbar (3+2), and Matisz (2+6). Higgins proved once again why he is making his case for Goaltender of the Year, with another phenomenal performance. He made 47 saves on 56 shots. For Albany, Simmons (three goals), Walker (2+1), and Kurtz (1+5) led the way. The goaltender situation for the FireWolves was messy all game long, there’s no gentle way to put it. Doug Jamieson made 28 saves on 41 shots in 43:24 of game play. Andrew Kidd stopped 8 of 13 in relief.

“I think we’re a great offense”, said O’Connor. “We haven’t played to our potential and tonight we did, and we got the result we wanted.”

Ottawa (5-4) finally broke through on the offensive side of the ball. They look to continue that momentum in their next matchup which is back home against Halifax (5-4). That game is this Friday at 7:30pm. Albany (2-8) looks to right the ship and have a short memory of this game. Their next contest is also at home as they welcome Philadelphia (5-5). That game is this Saturday at 7pm.

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