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| Bradley Kri and AJ Masson battle for a faceoff in the Kodiaks first game since moving to Cobourg. (Photo: Anna Taylor) |
The Cobourg Kodiaks got off to a great
start in their new home and gave the home crowd of over 1,000 fans
something to cheer about Sunday afternoon at the Cobourg Community
Centre.
Unfortunately for the team and their
fans, they weren't able to sustain their momentum and fell 10-5 to
the Oakville Rock in the 2016 Major Series Lacrosse season opener.
Eric Guiltinan broke away and scored
the season’s first goal just under three minutes into the game.
Rance Vigneux was sharp between the pipes for Cobourg, allowing the
Kodiaks to weather some pressure from the Rock until Matt Crough,
playing his first game with the team, took a pass from Jacob Ruest
and tucked it home from in close to make it 2-0 near the midway point
of the first period.
Jeremy Noble finally got the visitors
on the board when he rifled home an outside shot on the power play at
12:55. That was all the scoring in the first frame.
Oakville finally solved Vigneux more
regularly in the second as Wes Berg scored three of his first four
goals in the first half of the frame and Jason Noble added a
transition goal. Cobourg coach Jamie Dubrick pulled Vigneux when
Brenden Thenhaus buried a sidearm rip from deep to make it 6-2.
Ryan Schuetzkowski did a fine job in
relief, holding the Rock from scoring again until Jordan Critch
connected shorthanded with just seven seconds left in the second
period. The Kodiaks called time out when they gained control after
the ensuing faceoff; the officials conferred and added a second to
the clock, so the time read 4.1 seconds to play.
That second would prove critical. A
Kodiaks player ran the ball in from mid-floor and passed it to a
teammate, who ripped a shot that ricocheted off the glass behind the
net and straight out to Cody McMahon, who tucked it into the net just
before the buzzer sounded. If you're thinking that sounds like a lot
to have happened in 4.1 seconds, the Rock agree with you and
complained to the refs that the clock didn't start running right away
when play was blown in. The goal counted, though, and it was 7-4
after two periods.
Cobourg never got closer than that,
though. Noble, Glen Bryan and Berg scored the first three goals of a
third period that Oakville dominated to stretch the lead to 10-4 and
seal their first win of the season. Shayne Adams got Cobourg's last
goal with just 8 seconds left.
Broedie Birkhof was ejected from the
game in the middle of the third for accumulating five minor
penalties. He got a roughing double minor in the first period then an
interference call for drilling a player as he was heading to the
bench in the second. In the third he received one unsportsmanlike
penalty then went ballistic on his way to the penalty box, repeatedly
gesturing to the entire Oakville bench to come and fight him. They
remained calm enough to ignore his invitation, which of course would
have led to an automatic suspension for anyone who went to meet him.
Birkhof kept yelling and gesticulating
at the Oakville bench after he was given another unsportsmanlike and
was being escorted to the tunnel to the Cobourg dressing room,
pushing the referee in the process.
Things got feisty again late in the
third when Berg fired a shot just after the 30-second clock expired.
Chad Cummings went after Berg but Bradley Kri, who had just come on
the floor as the Rock offence went for a change, interceded. He and
Cummings dropped the gloves, ripped each other's helmets off and got
some punches in before they fell to the floor.
With just 15 seconds to play, the four
players on the floor for each team simply stayed at their own ends as
the final seconds ticked off then went to gather with their
respective goalies.
