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| Craig England (left), here against Oakville, had 2 goals Thursday as KW downed Peterborough 11-8. (Photo: Tim Prothero) |
The Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks made a
statement Thursday night: that they can play with anybody in Major
Series Lacrosse. The Kodiaks went into Peterborough, the home of the
Lakers who were rated first in the latest IL Indoor MSL Power
Rankings, and won 11-8 to keep their playoff hopes moving forward.
The win allowed KW to keep pace with Oakville at 6-8. The Rock downed
Brampton 12-5 in Thursday night's other game.
“We've got a good team here. Everyone
thinks that we're cellar dwellars and everything else, but we can
compete with anybody and be in any game,” said Kodiaks assistant
coach Jamie Dubrick. “We had a rough week last week with the
two losses against Oakville, two games we should have won, I think.
Our guys just didn't show up to play. This is a big game for us, to
come up here and beat a team like this that has won a couple of games
the last little bit. [Peterborough's] a strong squad, that's a Mann
Cup contending team right there. So I think we can compete with
anyone. I think this is going to be good for the week coming up.
We've got two big games Sunday and Tuesday [against Brampton] and
we'll see what happens.”
KW trailed 3-1 but scored the last
three goals of the first period to take a 4-3 lead and they never
trailed again. Every time Peterborough scored a goal after that, KW
responded with the next marker. Dylan Goddard and Craig
England each scored twice to lead the Kodiaks, while Ryan
Benesch had a goal and 4 assists. Scott Evans was the only
multiple-goal scorer for the Lakers with a pair. Josh Gillam
had 4 assists for Peterborough.
Lakers head coach Joe Sullivan
said his team needed to work harder and smarter if they wanted to
overcome KW's effort. Sullivan said it looked like his team expected
it might be another easy game after the Lakers blew the Kodiaks out
last week in KW. “The boys always come to battle and they work hard
but there's a big difference between working hard and working smart
and tonight they didn't work hard enough and they definitely didn't
work smart,” Sullivan said. “So a young team comes in here with
hopes of playoffs still gleaming for them and they took advantage of
it. They ran and took advantage of every mistake that we made.”
In Brampton, Oakville scored 4 goals in
each period to down the Excelsiors. Brendan Thenhaus led the
Rock with a hat trick. Damon Edwards, Dave Lomas and
Patrick Corbett each scored twice for Oakville, with Corbett
adding a pair of assists. Pat Saunders scored a goal and 3
assists to lead Brampton, who fall to 4-10 and see their playoff
hopes become more remote.
The next MSL action is Sunday night
when Brampton visits KW in the first half of a home-and-home series
that will play a big role in determining who garners the fourth and
final playoff spot in the league. Oakville plays host to Brooklin
Monday night. The Rock and Kodiaks still have a chance to catch the
defending Mann Cup champion Six Nations Chiefs, who are at 7-7. The
Chiefs don't play again until next Wednesday at Brooklin, after they
have nine players return from playing at the world field lacrosse
championships.
