Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Kitchener-Waterloo pulls out 8-7 win over Brooklin Redmen; Kodiaks move into fourth place


Tuesday night's Major Series Lacrosse game between the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks and the Brooklin Redmen was a defensive battle where goals were hard to come by...except for the eight-minute stretch in the second period where KW scored six of their goals to pull out an 8-7 win.

Brooklin's Kiel Matisz scored the only goal of the first period and Tyler Patterson made it 2-0 a little over four minutes into the second. Then the Kodiaks made their big run. Aaron Wilson got things rolling with a pair of goals 41 seconds apart. Ryan Benesch, making his first appearance with the Kodiaks this summer, sandwiched a pair around markers by fellow lefty forwards Jordan Critch and Mike Teeter and KW was up 6-2 just like that.

Shawn Williams took advantage of a 4-on-3 power play arising from roughing penalties following Benesch's second goal to snap the Kodiak streak just 11 seconds later and the Redmen pulled within one when Mike Melnychenko and Derek Hopcroft scored in the first three minutes of the third period.


The Redmen could never quite catch up, though, and the Kodiaks held on to earn their third win of the season, pulling them ahead of Brampton in the race for the fourth and final MSL playoff spot. Mike Poulin made 33 saves to earn the win. Brooklin goalie Steve Fryer blamed himself for the loss, tweeting after the game, “Gonna be tough to sleep tonight...6 goals against in a period is not acceptable...this loss is on me tonight.” He did, however, make 44 saves and earn third star of the game honours for his mostly solid play.

Brooklin is right back at it tonight, playing host to Oakville on Scott McMichael Minor Lacrosse Night. KW gets back on the floor Thursday night in Peterborough and then Saturday in Oakville at 7 pm.