BRANTFORD – Burlington Chiefs scored three times in the final 1:49 to snap a 9-9 tie and keep the Mohawk Stars winless (0-6) after their 12-9 win during OLA Senior B League action at the Brantford & District Civic Centre Thursday night.
The Chiefs got the three goals from Ryan Flippance (1:49), Mike Shaw (1:35) and Tim Weston (0:25) after the Stars had battled back from an 8-5 deficit to tie the game at 9-9 with 2:08 remaining.
Paul Edwards started in goal for Burlington and Kevin Beauvias got his first start in goal of the regular season for Mohawk.
The Stars would enjoy a 4-0 first lead with Chad Squire netting the fourth Stars goal with 4:51 remaining in the first which would be the score at the end of 20 minutes.
Burlington coaching decided to switch goalies following the fourth Mohawk goal and put Trevor Brennan in goal and he would allow only one goal in the second up until midway through the third.
That Chiefs goaltending by Brennan allowed his team to get back into the game and actually take a 7-5 lead into the third period.
The Stars tied the game at 8-8 with 6:26 left in the third thanks to a pair of powerplay markers. Mike Shaw would put the Chiefs up by one with 4:53 remaining only to have Nick Skye answered the call and tie the game with 2:08 left.
Burlington score three powerplay goals while the Stars had two extra-man goal and one shorthanded marker.
Burlington was led by Mike Shaw with 8 (5G, 3A), Ryan Flippance with 4 (2G, 2A), Jody Holrough contributed 3 (2G, 1A), Mike Fishleigh (1G, 1A), Rich Ignatczyk (1G, 1A) and Justin Coultor (2A) added a pair each with singles by Tim Weston (1G), Mike Blaney (1A), Dave Sharp (1A), Dan Pilon (1A) and goalie Brennan (1A).
The Stars were led by Chad Squire (2G, 1A) and Dwayne Porter (1G, 2A) with 3 points each. A pair were by Trent Hill (2G), Nick Skye (1G, 1A), Shawn Garlow (1G, 1A) and Rodney Redeye (2A). Single Mohawk points were by Chad Hill (1G), Frank Smith (1G), Curt Montour (1A), Brandon Hill (1A), Stu Johnson (1A) and goalie Beauvias (1A).
Burlington (3-1-1) travel to Owen Sound Saturday for an 8 PM game while the Stars (0-6) travel to Ajax-Pickering to face the Rock on Saturday, May 31st at 7 PM.
MISSISSAUGA – The Iroquois Nationals clinched a berth in the World Indoor Lacrosse Championships (WILC) semi-finals Monday night with a 21-14 win over the United States of America at the Hershey Centre.
The Iroquois Nationals (3-1), have 13 Six Nations residents playing for the squad in Cam Bomberry, Cory Bomberry, Tim Bomberry, Ryan Davis, Derek General, Bob Henry, Clay Squire-Hill, Duane Jacobs, Kyle Jamieson, Ken Montour, Tom Montour, Delby Powless and Kim Squire.
Iroquois currently sit in second-place behind the undefeated Team Canada after 4 of the 5 games completed in the round-robin portion of the tournament. The round-robin portion of the tournament concludes Wednesday in Kitchener at the Memorial Auditorium with the semi-final games going Thursday also in Kitchener.
The Bronze Medal game starts at 10 AM Saturday before the Gold Medal game which is scheduled for 1:30 p.m., Saturday at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton.
A championship banquet is to be held at 7:30 later that night at the same venue.
Team Iroquois’ Delby Powless was a late addition for the squad as his Rutgers University Scarlett Knights were eliminated from the NCAA Division I championships by Georgetown. The Rutgers loss is the Iroquois’ gain as Powless is among the WILC scoring leaders. Powless along with Rich Kilgour and Robert “Bear” Henry were added to the roster prior to the first game of the tournament against Scotland. The trio replace Mike Benedict, Mike Stevens and Mike Thompson who couldn’t make the 10-day commitment.
The Iroquois slowly built the lead and were ahead 4-1 after 15 minutes and 10-3 at the half. The Nationals extended their lead to 16-7 after 45 minutes.
Delby Powless led the way against the Americans with a 10 (4G, 6A) point effort. Cory Bomberry had six goals for the Iroquios Nationals. Ken Montour played the entire match against USA.
Six Nations’ Jake Henhawk shared the goaltending duties with Dwight Maetche for the Americans. Chris Panos of the New York Saints led the way for the U.S., scoring their first five goals of the game. Dan Marohl had a goal and six assists for the losing side.
Australia won their first game of the tourney with a 13-12 victory over Czech Republic in the first game of day four while the Canadians made easy work of Scotland 25-5.
In day three of the WILC, the Iroquois easily defeated Team Australia 24-7 Sunday afternoon at the Hershey Centre. Considering that the Aussies had only taken up playing the indoor version of the lacrosse just six months prior to the start of the tournament, they did a pretty good job of being competitive against the more experienced Nationals.
Neal Powless had the hot hand with 8 (5G, 3A) points to lead the Iroquois Nations against Australia. Cory Bomberry also had 9 (1G, 8A) points.
Australia played its strongest game of the tournament, staying within three goals until the Iroquois blew the game open with four goals in the last four minutes of the second quarter.
Iroquois Nationals head coach, Darris Kilgour said, “We are playing better as the tournament goes on. We used today’s game as a learning process leading up to our games against the USA and hopefully Canada again in the Gold Medal game.”
Canada routed Czech Republic 25-1 in other action from day 3 of WILC. Scotland upset the favoured USA 15-12 and put the USA in the position to face the strong Canadian squad in the first semi-final game Thursday in Kitchener. Scotland will likely face Iroquois Nationals in the other semi-final game unless the Scots lose to Australia in the round-robin finale and the Americans knock off Canada.
Day 2 of the WILC saw Canada down Iroquois Nationals 15-13 Friday night at the Oshawa Civic Centre. It was perhaps a preview of the gold medal final Saturday at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton. Playing before a packed house of 3,823 fans, the Canadians took a 4-0 lead in the first four minutes of the contest. After which Nationals goalie, Derek General settled down a played spectacular to allow the Nationals to be tied 8-8 at half-time. Six Nations Chiefs head coach, Pat O’Toole played in goal for Canada during the first half and Anthony Cosmo was in goal for the second-half.
Canada grabbed a 12-10 lead after 45 minutes thanks to some diligent work by Delby Powless to get the ball to Cory Bomberry who fired his shot past Cosmo with only two seconds left in the third quarter. Both teams scored three times each in the final quarter with Iroquois Nationals lifting General in favour of an extra-attacker, but Canada would hang on for the win.
General finished the game with 40 saves on the night.
The Iroquios’ not only lost to Canada, but it cost them a 31-goal scorer in the National Lacrosse League when Tony Henderson broke a bone in his foot and be forced to watch the rest of the WILC action from the sidelines.
Cam Bomberry led the Nationals with 5 (1G, 4A) points while Delby Powless (3G, 1A), Cory Bomberry, Neal Powless and Duane Jacobs had 4 (2G, 2A) points apiece. J.D. Jones had a goal and an assist while Clay Squire-Hill scored once for the Iroquois Nationals.
Canada was led by John Grant (3G, 4A) and John Tavares (2G, 5A) with 7 points each. Dan Stroup and Kaleb Toth also had hat-tricks for Canada while single goals were by Tracey Kelusky, Colin Doyle, Glenn Clark and Pat Coyle.
Scotland defeated Czech Republic 15-3 in the first game of day 2 and the USA hammered Australia 22-4.
Iroquois Nationals kicked off the tournament with a 19-12 victory over Scotland in the first game of the 2003 World Indoor Lacrosse Championships in Oshawa, Ontario last Thursday afternoon.
The Scottish team is made up of mostly Canadian players that have Scotish ancestry.
Delby Powless led the Nationals with 5 goals and 4 assists while Cory Bomberry added 7 (3G, 4A) points with Kim Squire netting 6 (1G, 5A) points, Neal Powless with 4 (2G, 2A). J.D Jones, Cam Bomberry and Tom Montour all had 2 goals and an assist while Tony Henderson and Al Jones contributed a maker and a pair of helpers. Kyle Kamieson had a pair of assists while Clay Squire-Hill and Tim Bomberry had one assist each.
Albany Attack’s, Dan Teat led the Scots with 4 goals and 4 assists.
The Americans opened the tournament with a 22-9 win over the Czech Republic in the 2nd game of the day at the Oshawa Civic Centre.
Canada followed that game up with a 28-5 victory over Australia.
ARTHUR – Arthur Aces held off a third period comeback by the Mohawk Stars Thursday night at the Arthur and Area Community Centre for an 11-9 win in OLA Sr B action.
Mark McManus started in goal for the Aces while Taseh Nanticoke started in goal for the Stars.
The game was delayed approximately 15 minutes as the Mohawk Stars arrived late to the arena and received an automatic delay of game penalty at the start.
The Aces used that opportunity to open the scoring 26 seconds into the match. But the Stars would strike back twice (the only lead for the Stars in the game) before Arthur would beat Nanticoke again at the 12:00 mark. Arthur would add another 39 seconds later and again with less than 5 minutes for a 4-2 lead after one period of play. The Aces outshot the Stars 17-13 in the first 20 minutes segment.
The Stars battled back in the second to be tied 6-6 midway through the game but the Aces scored a couple more goals before 40 minutes were completed.
Arthur continued their scoring run in the third and expanded their lead to 11-6. Dwayne Porter single-handedly brought the Stars back to within striking distance with a natural hat-trick in the final frame, but it would not be enough as the Aces would use the 30-second clock to their advantage and run out the game clock.
The Stars will be hoping to get their first win of the season Thursday night when they host the Burlington Chiefs at the Brantford Civic Centre.
Porter finished the night with a career high 5 goals.
Nick Skye, Chad Hill, Rodney Redeye and Chad Squire scored the Stars goals.
GLANBROOK – Six Nations won the first battle of the Braves 20-6 over Tonawanda Friday night at the Glanbrook Arena. The win ended a two game losing streak for Six Nations. Manny Yellow started in goal for Tonawanda while Six Nations started Neil Bomberry in goal.
The USA Braves were fresh off of their 12-7 win over Pinewoods Smoke last weekend but fell behind 3-0 in the first 7:07 only to rally and tie the game at 3-3 with 5:02 left in the first. The second of three by Rustin Johnson put Six Nations ahead to stay 1:22 later. Ian Vyse added a goal in the final seconds of the first for 5-3 Six Nations lead after 20 minutes.
Six Nations would lead 12-4 after two periods.
Rustin Johnson led the Six Nations attack with 6 (3G, 3A) points. Brian Walton (5G) and Shad Walton (3G, 2A) added 5 points each. Ron Henry (3G, 1A), Shawn Martin (2G, 2A) and Neil Bomberry (4A) with 4 each. Ian Vyse (2G, 1A) and Trevor Atkins (3A) with 3 points. Josh Longboat (1G, 1A) and Nolan Hill (1G, 1A). Single helpers were by Cyril Henry, Rod Miller and Chris Hill.
Six Nations’ other CanAm League team, the Mohawk Storm lost their second game of the season to Niagara Hawks 11-9 at the Welland Arena Friday night.
The Hawks jumped out to a 6-3 lead after the first but the Storm cut their lead to 8-7 heading into the third.
Mohawk were outscored 3-2 in the final period.
Todd VanEvery led the Storm with 5 goals, Jody Porter added a pair of goals and a helper. Storm goalie, Ken Sandy tried his best to help the cause as he scored midway through the second period. Sandy also had three assists in the contest. Darryl Squire had a pair of assists and Jeff VanEvery added one assist.
The Braves are in Pinewoods Friday night while the Storm are at Tonawanda Saturday.
BRANTFORD – Mohawk Stars head coach, Ken Squire says that conditioning is the major problem why the Stars have dropped their first four games of the OLA Senior B League season.
It was the previous winless, St. Clair Storm’s turn to gain their first win of season in a convincing fashion of 17-11 over the Mohawk Stars Sunday afternoon at the Brantford Civic Centre.
Coach Squire said, “A lot of guys are ready, but there are 5 or 6 guys who don’t help themselves in conditioning themselves. We only practice once a week. That is not enough conditioning in one night to prepare them for the games. The players have to go out and run at night on their own. A lot of guys do, a lot of guys don’t. You see the guys are given’er hell, but some guys are in poor shape and it hurts the team.”
Taseh Nanticoke started in goal for the Stars while Andrew Dowdell started for the Storm.
The Storm lineup features a couple of National Lacrosse League players in John Rosa and Wikwemikong’s, Nick Trudeau. The Stars one of the few teams to not have an NLL player in their lineup.
Coach Squire said, “We don’t have any NLL players right now and it shows. Even St. Clair have NLL players. Look at Brooklin with (Jonas) Derks. Our management have to get moving to get 2 or 3 NLL experienced players into our lineup.”
Both teams were tied 5-5 after the first period, but the Storm got three goals in a span of 63 seconds to take control of the game in the second and lead 12-9 heading into the third.
St. Clair managed to net 6 powerplay markers while Mohawk Stars were able to score three times with the extra man advantage.
John Rosa led the Storm with 6 (3G, 3A) points. Nick Trudeau added 5 (3G, 2A) while Brian Renaud (1G, 3A) and Aaron Doxtator (4A) notched 4 points each. Matt Levis (3G), Joe Rosa (2G, 1A) and Pat Lea (1G, 2A) had 3 points. John Doxtator, Mike Stanley and Steve LaForest all had a goal and an assist for the Storm. Single St. Clair points were by Ken O’Neil (1G), Dave Sophonow (1A) and goalie, Andrew Dowdell (1A).
The Mohawk Stars were led by new recruit, Rodney Redeye with 5 goals. Coach Squire said, “(Rodney) Redeye just needs somebody to help him score some goals and play defense. They aren’t going to do that if they are not in shape.”
Nick Skye (2G, 1A), Shawn Garlow (1G, 2A), Chad Hill (1G, 2A) and Russ Davis (1G, 2A) all had three points each. Trent Hill, Brandon Hill and Ashley Hill had a pair of helpers each. Single Stars points were by Dwayne Porter (1G), Tony MacLeod (1A), Don Whitlow (1A) and Franklin Davis (1A).
The Stars hope to have a few more faces in the lineup soon and Jason Henhawk could be one of them. “We have made an offer to the (Six Nations) Chiefs.” Coach Squire said, “It’s up to them now.”
One player coach Squire says that the Stars really miss is Clay Squire-Hill. “Clay (Squire-Hill) wouldn’t allow us to lose.” Coach Squire observed last year. “He was a real spark plug for the Stars last year.”
The Stars (0-4) travel to Arthur (2-2) this Thursday to play the Aces at 8:30 PM.
The World Indoor Lacrosse Championships are hurting a lot of the OLA Senior teams as most of the elite players are committed to their respectively countries until the tournament is over.
Six Nations Braves won their first game of the young season with an 11-9 victory over the visiting Pinewoods Smoke at the Gaylord Powless Arena Sunday afternoon before 100 plus fans. The Braves started Derek Sandy in goal while the Smoke started Alec Hill.
Pinewoods built a 4-2 by the 13:39 mark, when Braves head coach Ben Henry decided to replace, Sandy with Neil Bomberry. The Braves settled down and trailed 5-4 after the first, but rallied to lead 8-6 after two periods of play. Pinewoods scored 4 powerplay goals and 2 shorthanded markers while the Braves managed only one powerplay goal.
The Braves were led by Ian Vyse with 4 (3G, 1A) points, Rusty Johnson added 3 helpers, Oliver Miller (2G), Brian Walton (2G), Cyril Henry (1G, 1A), Leroy Henry (1G, 1A), and Shad Walton (2A) all had two point games. Single points were by Ron Henry (1G), Russell Hill (1G), Chris Hill (1A), Josie Thomas (1A) and Dan Henry (1A).
Pinewoods was led by Vaughn Gates (2G, 2A) and Donnie Brooks (1G, 3A) with 4 points each. Bert Longboat had 3 helpers, Keith White (2G), Tim Golden (1G, 1A), Ron Williams (1G, 1A) and Brian Nephew (2A) all had two points with single points by Lee Jamieson (1G), Gerald Johnson (1G) and Arlyn Schindler (1A).
The Braves are scheduled to host Niagara next Friday at a site undetermined before travelling to Onondaga next Sunday for a 3:00 PM match.
LAST THURSDAY AT THE GPA - Mohawk Storm won the battle of the two Six Nations CanAm League teams 10-6 over Six Nations Braves last Thursday night at the Gaylord Powless Arena before 200 plus curious fans, while Lindsay Squire became the first female to play a regular season game other than a goalie.
The more experience Storm took control of the game in the third as they scored five times despite dressing only 9 runners and 2 goalies, it was the Braves that tired in the decisive third frame.
The Braves had a full bench to work with. Ken Sandy started in goal for the Storm and John Miller got the call for the Braves.
Six Nations Braves led 2-1 after 20 minutes but found themselves tied with the Mohawk Storm 5-5 heading into the third.
The Storm were led by 40 year-old Todd VanEvery with 6 (1G, 5A) points, Jody Porter added 5 (1G, 4A) points, Todd’s son Jeff VanEvery had 4 (3G, 1A) points, James Johnson (2G), Matt Atkins (1G, 1A), Clay Sandy (1G, 1A) and goalie Ken Sandy (2A) had two each. Singles were by Jake Williams (1G) and the first female to play in the CanAm league this year, Lindsay Squire (1A).
Lindsay’s father Darryl Squire is the 46 year-old player coach for the Mohawk Storm.
The Braves were led by Rod Miller with 4 (1G, 3A) points, Oliver Miller (1G, 1A), Brian Walton (1G, 1A) and Cyril Henry (2A) had two point each. Single points for the Braves were by Leroy Henry (1G), Clifton Henry (1G), Russ Hill (1G), Nolan Hill (1A), Rusty Johnson (1A), Ron Henry (1A) and goalie, John Miller (1A).
The Storm’s next game is Saturday, May 10th in Newtown @ 8:00 PM (Gil Lay Arena)
LINDSAY SQUIRE MAKES HER DEBUT WITH STORM - Lindsay Squire made her CanAm League debut last weekend during the James General Pre-season tournament in Welland and still feels a little intimidated.
Lindsay Squire said, “It is a lot different playing with the men than the women. It’s scarier.”
Squire didn’t look that much out of place, but she did get hit a couple of times by the Brave defenders. “I got hit a couple of times and I took a ball right off the leg.” Squire continued.
Squire says the players in the tournament had no mercy on her. “I got rocked a couple of times in the tournament.” Squire recalled. “They had no mercy on me out there on the weekend. A couple of guys took it easy on me tonight, but I still got hit.”
Squire earned her first point of the regular season on a pretty passing play for the game winning goal as she received a pass from Jody Porter at mid floor and quickly passed it to a streaking, Jason Johnson who promptly beat Braves goalie, John Miller for a 7-5 lead at 6:10 of the third.
Both Six Nations CanAm teams were winless in three games over the weekend as the Six Nations Braves were beaten twice by the same identical score of 13-7 by Onondaga Redhawks Sunday afternoon and Niagara Hawks Friday night in Glanbrook while the Mohawk Storm were defeated 17-9 by Newtown Golden Eagles at the Gil Lay Arena Saturday night.
The pair of losses drops the Braves record to 1-3 while the Storm fell to 1-1 during the first two weeks of the year.
The Braves got hat-tricks from Josie Thomas and Ian Vyse in the loss to Onondaga with Rod Miller netting the other Six Nations marker. Rusty Johnson had a pair of helpers for the Braves while single assists were by Cliff Henry and Miran Hill.
A. J. Bucktooth led Onondaga with a 6 (3G, 3A) point game, Ed Shenandoah netted 5 (3G, 2A) points, Dave Stout (2G, 1A), Percy Shenandoah (3A) and Art Powless (3A) all had a hat-trick of points. Dustin Hill scored twice and single Redhawk points were by Vern Abrams (1G), Jim Davidson (1A) and Brandy Gibson (1A).
Onondaga held a 15-14 edge in penalty minutes for the game.
SATURDAY IN NEWTOWN – The Golden Eagles won their third game in a row to start the season with a 17-9 win over the Mohawk Storm at the Gil Lay Arena.
Mike Stevens led the Golden Eagles attack with 8 (1G, 7A) points on the night. Jason John tallied 7 (4G, 3A) points. Bill Brennan (3G), Butch Jimerson (2G, 1A), Drew Stevens (2G, 1A) and Wes Jackson (1G, 2A) had three points each. Kyle Beaver (1G, 1A), Charlie Scanlon (1G, 1A), Joe Montour (1G, 1A) and Clint Jones (2A) with a pair each. Single Newtown points were by Joe Coulon (1G), Tony Leroy (1A), Brandon Seneca (1A) and Brandon Coulon (1A).
The Mohawk Storm were led Todd VanEvery (4G, 1A) and 46 year-old player-coach, Daryl Squire (2G, 3A) with 5 points each. Matt Atkins (2G, 2A) and Jody Porter (4A) with 4 points each. Jeff VanEvery added 3 (1G, 2A) points. Lindsay Squire, Clay Sandy and Storm goalie, Ken Sandy all had a helper on the night.
The Golden Eagles were assessed 27 penalty minutes to the Storm’s 15 minutes in penalties.
FRIDAY NIGHT IN GLANBROOK – Usually when a game is delayed for almost an hour, it is due to a mechanical problem with the visiting team transportation or the arena has electrical malfunctions with the time clock.
But Friday night’s game was delayed because the host team, Six Nations Braves forgot the teams uniforms. Visiting Niagara Hawks and former, Six Nations Red Rebels head coach, Vince Hill said, “It was hard to get the team re-motivated after the delay, but once we got going it guys performed well.”
The game was moved to Glanbrook due to lack of available floor time in Ohsweken.
When the game finally started, Neil Bomberry guarded the twine for the Braves while Nick Smith was in net for the Hawks.
It was the Braves that would open the scoring 2:15 into the contest as Shawn Bomberry scored the first of three on the night. Niagara would respond 3:26 later to start a 4-goal run by former, Six Nations Arrow, Blue Hill with his first of 6 (2G, 4A) points on the evening. The Braves, Ian Vyse scored a powerplay marker to cut the lead in half at 13:46. Both teams would trade goals in final five minutes of the first with Cyril Henry finding the mesh behind Hawks goalie, Smith with only 14 seconds left in the opening frame.
In the middle stanza, former Six Nations Chiefs and NLL Philadelphia Wings’ 31-goal scorer, Tony Henderson got warmed up enough to score twice for the Hawks in the first half of the second period. Six Nations’ Shawn Bomberry got his second of the game on the powerplay at 16:49, but Blue Hill would get his second of the game 29 seconds later. As the clock ticked down in the final seconds of the period, Ron Henry was able to squeak a shot into the Hawks net to trail 8-5 heading into the third.
In the third, Nolan Hill made it a two-goal game with a powerplay goal 2:37 into the third. Niagara’s leader, Tony Henderson restored the three-goal Hawks lead with powerplay goal of his own 31 seconds later. With the Hawks still on the powerplay, Shawn Bomberry made it a 9-7 game 36 seconds later with a shorthanded effort. That would turn out to be the Braves final tally as the Hawks answered with a powerplay goal on the same penalty and played ball control much of the remainder of the game, which gave them ample scoring chances which they got three more in the final 10 minutes of the game. Niagara scored five times on the powerplay and Six Nations scored three times with the extra-man and once while being down a man. Henderson would lead the Hawks with a 7 (4G, 3A) point game, Blue Hill added his 6 points, Kevin Fildes had 5 (1G, 4A), Dave Sturiano (2G, 2A) and Jon Burkholder (1G, 3A) contributed 4 points each. Tim Mondello had three helpers, Mark Cotton added a pair of goals and Jay Drury (1G), Keith Banas (1A) and goalie, Neil Smith (1A) all had single points. The Braves were led by Shawn Bomberry’s 4 (3G, 1A) points. Cyril Henry added 2 (1G, 1A) points with single points coming from Ian Vyse (1G), Nolan Hill (1G), Ron Henry (1G), Gary Smoke (1A), Rustin Johnson (1A), Leroy Henry (1A) and John Miller (1A).
Mohawk Stars goalie, Taseh Nanticoke almost steals a victory from the defending OLA Sr “B” champion, Owen Sound Woodsmen Special to Turtle Island News
BRANTFORD - Mohawk Stars goalie, Taseh Nanticoke almost stole a game as he stoned the Owen Sound shooters time and time again, but a 5-minute facemask penalty with 5:06 remaining gave Owen Sound the chance they needed to score a pair of powerplay goals for a 7-6 win at the Brantford Civic Centre Saturday night.
Owen Sound outshot the Stars 72-21 for the entire contest.
Mohawk Stars head coach, Ken Squire said, “(Taseh) Nanticoke had a good training camp. He had the best training camp out of all our goalies. I’m not scared to put him in the net. Nanticoke played a hellavah game. We were shorthanded too.”
The Stars were leading 6-5 with 5:06 remaining in the third period when Woodsmen, Jason Berner was being accessed a penalty for wrap around on Mohawk Stars shooter, Brandon Hill. But, Stars tough-guy, Greg Lovell must have thought Hill needed some protection and proceeded to grab Berner’s facemask and pull him around. Berner wanted nothing to do with Lovell, but Woodsmen tough-guy, Troy Bonterre attempted to get at Lovell only to be stopped by the referees.
Lovell would receive a 5-minute major for grabbing the facemask and a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct, while Berner received his original two minutes and Bonterre received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty plus a 10-minute misconduct for actions giving the Stars a powerplay.
Coach Squire defended Lovell, “(Greg) Lovell made a mistake, but we’re still trying to figure out what kinda of new rules will be in effect this year. This senior lacrosse, the referees should let a lot more go than they should for Junior lacrosse. The guys are men playing here, not kids.”
The Stars were unable to mount any offense during the man advantage.
Woodsmen Bob McNabb scored the game-winning goal with 2:14 remaining on Nanticoke after Jamie Grimoldby had tied the game 34 seconds earlier during the powerplay that began with 3:06 remaining.
Mohawk Stars led 3-2 after one period and 6-5 after two.
Mohawk Stars captain, Chad Squire was the top point man with 5 (1G, 4A) points, Brandon Hill (3G, 1A) and Trent Hill (1G, 3A) had 4 points each. Roger Martin (1G) and Dwayne Porter (1A) were the other Stars point getters.
Coach Squire said of the Brandon and Trent Hill, “They will get better and better as the year goes on. They sat out most of last year. Brandon hasn’t played in a couple of years while Trent joined us late last year. They’ll get better and better. Chad (Squire) will be our captain all year as well as helping me coach as an assistant.
Six Nations’ and Albany Attack backup goalie, Jake Henhawk started in goal for Owen Sound and Rob Blasdell played the entire third period for the Woodsmen.
McNabb led Owen Sound with 4 (2G, 2A) points, Grimoldby added 3 (2G, 1A), Mark Cochrane, David Robinson and Tom Witte had 2 (1G, 1A) points each. Single assists were by Jeff Nickel, Tyler Francey and Craig Ainsworth.