Jordan MacIntosh scored with 3 seconds
to play to lift the Peterborough Lakers to a thrilling 12-11 win over
the Brooklin Redmen in Game 4 of the Major Series Lacrosse
semifinals, evening the series at 2-2 and returning home floor
advantage to Peterborough.
“It's probably the biggest [goal of
my career],” Macintosh said. “I've never really scored a late
goal like that in a game so it's pretty cool. The play was basically
just to get it over to John [Grant, Jr.] for a shot or
a good look. He usually makes the right play there and I just kind of
kept my stick in an area where he could get it to. I was fortunate
enough that he got it there and I put it in.”
Grant made the pass from near the
boards, across the crease and high enough that MacIntosh had to jump
to get to the ball, but no Redmen defenders had an opportunity to
intercept or knock it away. MacIntosh caught the ball at the peak of
his jump and released it before he came down. Redmen goalie Zach
Higgins caught the ball with his arm and knocked it away, but it
was behind the goal line in the net when it made contact with him.
The play couldn't have been much
closer. The same could be said of Game 4 and now of the series, which
continues Monday night in Peterborough. For those who can't make it
to the game, it is available via pay per view live webcast. Just
click on the Webcast Sports link at the right of this page to be
directed to the portal for the game.
Brooklin scored the final 3 goals of
the first period to take a 5-4 lead into the intermission. The
Lakers, who struggled mightily in the second period of the first two
games of the series (giving up 8 goals in each), had another strong
second frame this time around, outscoring Brooklin 6-3 as they
stepped up their defensive pressure and got their transition game
rolling.
It looked like Grant had given the
Lakers a lead they'd be able to hold on to when he scored the first
goal of the third period at the 7:58 mark while Peterborough was
limiting Brooklin's scoring chances. There was no scoring at all for
almost eight minutes until Kiel Matisz connected at 15:40 to
pull Brooklin within 11-9.
Gavin Prout set up that Matisz
goal, then he set up a pair from Scott Campbell and Matisz
just 17 seconds apart—the first coming at the 18-minute mark—and
just like that, the game was tied. The large crowd, which had at
least as many Lakers fans as Redmen fans, was struck largely quiet by
the development. They got back into, though, as the teams battled
back and forth trying to create a game winning goal.
Peterborough got a second-chance
possession when a shot rebounded the length of the floor; they waited
until there were less than 30 seconds to play so they could take a
time out and set up a last shot opportunity. That turned out to be
the play on which Grant made his brilliant pass and MacIntosh climbed
the ladder to make the catch and shoot that evened the series.
Campbell said his team was disappointed
to lose but they weren't down about where they stand. “That's
playoffs, right?,” he said. “It could have gone either way. I had
a shot right at the last second and Carlson made a decent save, I
mean, I'm not much of a shooter. But's that's the breaks, right?”
Campbell was understating his skill level as he had a hat trick for
the game and added an assist. Prout had a goal and 7 assists to lead
all scorers. Mike Melnychenko, Kevin Brownell and
Matisz each scored twice for Brooklin.
Scott Evans had a hat trick for
Peterborough and Josh Gillam chipped in 5 assists. Tyler
Carlson got the win in goal for Peterborough. Steve Fryer
started for Brooklin but was pulled after allowing 4 goals and
Higgins played the rest of the way.
