The Peterborough Timbermen are in the win column! An exciting weekend for the club culminated in a 17-9 win over the Toronto Monarchs at the Tribute Communities Centre on Sunday afternoon.
“The win was a huge relief,” said Dan Michel, who had eight goals over the weekend. “We’ve had a really tough start to the season so to get that first one takes a lot of pressure off our team. We can keep building from here.”
The weekend began with the acquisition of Cam Garlin, a Trent Excalibur standout who joined many of his university teammates on the Timbermen. Saturday the Timbermen lost a one goal game in Paris in their most dominant effort of the season. They rebounded Sunday with even more dominance.
“The biggest difference was getting off to a pretty decent start,” said captain Tim Bergin. “We had some good energy coming off the tough loss Saturday. Our offense got into a good rhythm early and our D was solid and played tough. Our transition played fast and smart and Ryan Masters was great in the pipes.”
The Timbermen went down 3-1 early after allowing those goals in a span of less than a minute. Head coach Joe Sullivan pulled starter Nolan Clayton to shake up the team and it worked. Masters was fantastic in relief.
“We really felt today was our chance to take over a game,” Michel said. “Every end of the floor was clicking on Saturday so we carried that into today and it paid off. We finally had some confidence going into a game.”
Preventing runs had been a problem for the Timbermen but Sunday they went on six and four goal runs of their own that the Monarchs just couldn’t match. They led 11-7 at the half.
Michel led the attack for the second game in a row scoring four goals and four assists. He scored eight goals over two games. Caleb Wiles stepped up with three goals and four assists, and Bergin had three goals and three assists. Cody McMahon was all over the floor scoring two goals and dishing out five assists.
Bergin said the good weekend has pushed the Timbermen in the right direction.
“Yes, we only have one win, but we have been in pretty much every game,” he recognized. “A few bounces here or there and it’s a much different record. Our team is starting to gel more and more. Each game and win will boost some team confidence.”
Jordan Dance, Seth Laidlaw and Shane Scott all had a pair of goals for the Monarchs. Craig Wende took the loss.
The Timbermen’s next game is their first in Peterborough, at the Memorial Centre next Sunday, February 26 as they host the Oshawa Outlaws at 1pm in the first game of a league doubleheader. Tickets for the February 26 game are on sale now at the PMC box office.
“Next Sunday is going to be awesome,” Michel expressed. “This will be our first time playing at home in front of a Peterborough crowd and we are all looking forward to it. We know the winning expectation of Peterborough lacrosse teams and we are looking to uphold those expectations.”
Scoring for the Timbermen were:
Dan Michel (4-4)
Caleb Wiles (3-4)
Tim Bergin (3-3)
Cody McMahon (2-5)
Cam Garlin (1-2)
Cole McWilliams (1-2)
Josh Wasson (1-1)
Nick Finlay (1-0)
Doug Utting (1-0)
Travis Szabolcs (0-2)
Garrett Lewis (0-1)
Brett Coons (0-1)
Pete Rennie (0-1)
Joe Wasson (0-1)
