The Peterborough Timbermen had a successful home debut at the Memorial Centre on Sunday afternoon defeating the 1st place Oshawa Outlaws 10-7 in front nearly 600 fans.
The players were happy to be home and thanked their fans with a day full of fun including a free lacrosse clinic in the morning and autographs after the game.
Despite being designated as the “home team” in five games at the Tribute Communities Centre, there’s nothing like playing in your own city in your own arena. A good portion of the Timbermen roster grew up playing at the Mem Centre through the Peterborough minor association.
“To come out and get this W in front of the fans in Peterborough feels great,” said defenseman Riley Campbell. “It’s nice to have lacrosse here in the winter, and it feels good to win, too!”
Captain Tim Bergin, Cole McWilliams, Josh Wasson and Caleb Wiles each had a pair of goals for the home team. Bergin and Cody McMahon had three assists each. Ryan Masters was outstanding in the Timbermen net making a number of impressive saves.
Wasson opened the scoring for Peterborough at 2:07 before Oshawa went up 2-1. Consecutive goals from McWilliams, including a highlight-reel second effort, put the Timbermen up 3-2 and they never looked back.
“Their D got the ball coming out of the corner and he wasn’t looking at me so I laid the body on him, which isn’t like me, I’m 180 pounds soaking wet, so it was nice to lay a guy out,” McWilliams chuckled as he described the goal. “I saw the ball there, went to pick it up and it popped up, I caught it, turned around and I had an open lane to the net, I made a move and fortunately it went in.”
“Cole hasn’t played every game this year but every game he’s been in he’s scored and today he scored a highlight reel goal with a second effort to really pick us up when the game was getting tough and back and forth,” head coach Joe Sullivan said. “It was a real timely effort from him.”
Sullivan, also the team’s general manager, was thrilled at how well the day went.
“I’m happy that we were able to play that style of game with that outcome at home in front of Peterborough fans,” he said. “It was more about seeing what we’ve started beginning to evolve into a good thing and a positive thing. The guys are starting to gel and get some really good confidence and the score indicates it.”
McWilliams’ second goal was the start of a five-goal run for the Timbermen. Caleb Wiles sandwiched a goal from Mike Triolo, the Outlaws captain, before Bergin tallied to give the Timbermen an 8-3 lead after the third quarter.
The Outlaws tried to make a game of it in the fourth quarter scoring four goals but Masters’ strong play helped keep the Timbermen ahead.
“He played incredible,” Sullivan said. “We’ve called on him a couple of times this year and whenever we have he’s been there for us, not always in wins but our last two games have been wins and it’s been a large part of what he’s done in the net so it’s great to see that he’s come along how he has.”
Campbell, said the Timbermen’s defense, from Masters out, made a difference.
“Masters was unbelievable for us, making some huge saves,” Campbell said. “Us playing solid on D made it even easier for him so it was a good game all around.”
Lukas Coote was the Outlaws’ goaltender – he and Masters, as well as Cole Murray – were all teammates for the Durham Turfdogs last season and won a championship together.
Prior to the game, the Timbermen hosted about 25 children in a skills camp on the Memorial Centre carpet in conjunction with the PMLA. The hour-long clinic was fun for both the players and participants, who were given a free ticket to the game. The players also signed autographs for eager fans in the east lobby after the game.
“Of course we want as many people as possible at our games but we’re building a brand here and we have to let people know what we’re all about,” Sullivan said. “I hope today showed people that we have a good brand of lacrosse. We’re not the Lakers but these guys are going to try to impress everybody every chance they get.”
Cam Mancini led the Outlaws with two goals and two assists while Josh Gilray had a goal and two assists. Gilray, Josh Miller and Nick Andreoli are all graduates of the Peterborough minor lacrosse system and the Trent Excalibur. Tyler Roche is also a junior Lakers grad.
The win improves the Timbermen record to 2-6 and puts them on a two game winning streak. Their next game is on the road Saturday March 4th against St. Catharines at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena. They play again at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Sunday, March 19th hosting the Six Nations Snipers.
Scoring for the Timbermen were:
Tim Bergin (2-3)
Caleb Wiles (2-1)
Cole McWilliams (2-0)
Josh Wasson (2-0)
Colton Armstrong (1-1)
Cam Garlin (1-1)
Cody McMahon (0-3)
Ryan Masters (0-2)
Garrett Lewis (0-1)
Doug Utting (0-1)
Dan Michel (0-1)
Eric Shewell (0-1)
Nick Finlay (0-1)
