 |
Kurtis Wagar was one of several Lakers who enjoyed
a successful return Wednesday night. For Wagar, it was a
return to Brooklin where he used to play. He allowed only
6 goals as Peterborough won. (Photo: Tim Prothero)
|
The Peterborough Lakers enjoyed the
return of John Grant, Jr. and Kyle Sorensen, taking an 8-6 win
Wednesday night over the Brooklin Redmen that moved them into first
place and set up a battle for top spot in Major Series Lacrosse
tonight with the Six Nations Chiefs. Had the Redmen won, they would
have leapfrogged the Lakers and moved into a first-place tie with Six
Nations, although the Chiefs have two games in hand on both of the
other teams. Peterborough currently has 16 points (8-3 record), Six
Nations 15 (7-1-1) and Brooklin 13 (6-4-1).
Grant scored twice—including the
Lakers' first goal of the night—and added 2 assists in his first
game with the Lakers this summer. Scott Evans had a hat trick,
Matt Crough scored 2 goals and Josh Gillam had 1 goal
and 2 assists for Peterborough. Kiel Matisz led Brooklin with
3 goals and 2 assists. Kevin Brownell (2g, 1a), Mike
Melnychenko (1g, 2a) and Shawn Williams (3a) each added 3
points.
Brooklin held a series of one-goal
leads through the first period as the teams alternated scoring, with
the Redmen heading to the dressing room up 3-2 after the first 20
minutes. Peterborough scored the only two goals of the second period.
Crough buried a quick-stick on a gorgeous cross-crease feed from
Grant 1:54 in, then it was almost 12 minutes till Evans tucked a shot
on the crease past the feet of Zach Higgins.
The period was a long one, with tempers getting almost as hot as the
thick, muggy air in the Iroquois Park Sports Centre. A total of 14
minor penalties were called. For all the power plays, only two goals
were scored on the man advantage all night, one for each team.
Evans and Grant
led off scoring in the third to extend the Lakers lead to 6-3.
Matisz got one back for Brooklin on the power play at 8:25. There was
then an almost 8-minute stretch without another goal before a brief
flurry. Matisz scored again at 16:09 but Crough responded with the
eventual game-winning goal 18 seconds later. Matisz rounded out his
hat trick and pulled the Redmen back within one less than a minute
after that.
The final goal
came with 31 seconds to play on a tough break for Higgins, who was
excellent in the game, stopping 49 of 57 shots. Shawn Evans
bounced a shot off the far post and it hopped straight up to Gillam
standing on top of the crease for an easy put-back and the final
two-goal spread. Kurtis Wagar, making his first start in
Brooklin since he played for the team, also excelled in the
Peterborough goal. He made 39 saves to earn the win.
Crough, a rookie
who now has 11 goals in 11 games this season, said he is feeling
increasingly comfortable playing at the major level. “But it's not
very hard to get comfortable with these guys,” he pointed out. “You
just set some picks, roll to the middle and they'll find you.”
Matisz placed the
onus for the loss on a lack of scoring. “We're losing close games
where it's in the single digits,” he said. “If our D is letting
in less than 10 goals a game...our offence is shooting for that 10,
11, 12 mark. We're not getting to that point as a collective group, I
would say it's on the offence. The defence has been playing good all
year, we've just got to pick it up on the offensive end.”
While he was
disappointed with the loss, Matisz did allow that he was pleased to
finally have a big game himself. “It's been a tough year for me
finding the back of the net. I've been working hard to improve my
game on my own time, so it's nice just to finally get a game where I
individually performed well, but it doesn't matter if you don't win.
I think we put together a good team effort, but a couple of loose
ends we just need to tie up.”
