Sporting green jerseys in honour of St. Patrick’s Day didn’t give the Peterborough Timbermen the luck they needed on Sunday as they were walloped by the Arena Lacrosse League’s first place Six Nations Snipers 18-7 at the Memorial Centre.
The loss eliminates the Timbermen from playoff contention. They can no longer catch the fourth place St. Catharines Shockwave.
“That was a must win game, two of them in a row,” said head coach Joe Sullivan. “The guys didn’t come prepared to play and pay the price like the need to in a playoff type game. They lose as a team but individually I think those guys gained a ton of experience by going through this.”
Six Nations built an early 3-0 lead before Riley Campbell got the home team on the board with a transition goal. Luke Laskiewicz and Cody McMahon traded goals before the end of the quarter for a 4-2 Six Nations lead.
“These guys showed me what they can do when they played as a group and put up 14 and 15 goals,” Sullivan said. “If it wasn’t for our transition I don’t know how much our offense would have clicked in. Our defense was picked apart. We looked like a very inexperienced team but that’s not the case. Six Nations just played a great game and left us out to dry.”
The only four goals of the second were scored by the Snipers.
“We worked hard in the first half but we just weren’t getting the bounces and our shots weren’t falling,” said defenseman Eric Shewell, who had an assist on the Timbermen’s first goal. “It was the polar opposite for them. All the bounces were going their way, they were getting all the calls and their shots were obviously dropping so it was frustrating.”
The Timbermen came alive in the third quarter with three goals in a row and four overall, outscoring Six Nations in the frame.
Peterborough, however, fell flat in the final quarter, allowing an eight goal run from the Snipers. Nick Finlay sprung Garrett Lewis for a highlight-reel fast-break goal with just over a minute to go but the Timbermen’s luck ran out.
“Any time you play Six Nations, at any level, their talent pool is so deep even if they have guys who can’t show up they just pick up somebody else who’s just as good or better,” Shewell noted. “It’s always tough not knowing what they’re going to come with but you know they’re going to come loaded so it’s always a tough game.”
Broedie Birkhof took on Chancey Johnson in the fourth quarter, a rematch of their fight from March 11. Fans were enthralled by the heavy-weight bout.
Birkhof took on the role of team enforcer this season, and faced ejections in every game. Sunday was the first game he played all 60 minutes.
His coaches are happy with his contribution to the team.
“Broedie’s developed his game. He understands his role; he does a great job at it,” Sullivan expressed. “He’s effective. I talked about guys learning from this year and the experience and he’s one of the guys who has done that.”
Dan Michel, Cody McMahon, Nick Finlay and Caleb Wiles all had one goal and one assist for the Timbermen. Ryan Masters and Cole Murray split time in goal.
Quinn Powless and Luke Laszkiewicz each had four goals and five assists for the Snipers. Chase Martin picked up the win in goal.
Prior to the game, the Timbermen hosted a free junior ALL clinic for kids ages 6-17. About 40 kids of all skill levels participated in the hour clinic. The players were also available for a post-game autograph session and were present at a post-gam party at Sticks Sports Pub.
While the on-floor outcome wasn’t what anybody wanted today, the players are in agreement that the experience at the Memorial Centre has been a positive one.
“We’ve had the best fan support here out of anywhere we played,” Michel said. “The management team here did an awesome job marketing this and putting on this show. It’s always a great experience playing in Peterborough.”
“It’s good to come out and play in front of the hometown fans but obviously we did not get the result we wanted,” Shewell added.
The Timbermen’s next game Saturday, March 25 against the Toronto Monarchs in Oakville at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre. They then close out the regular season on Thursday, March 30 at the TCC in Oshawa against the host Outlaws.
Scoring for the Timbermen were:
Dan Michel (1-1)
Cody McMahon (1-1)
Nick Finlay (1-1)
Caleb Wiles (1-1)
Garrett Lewis (1-0
Matt Benedict (1-0)
Riley Campbell (1-0)
Matt Crough (0-2)
Josh Wasson (0-1)
Eric Shewell (0-1)
Geoff McNulty (0-1)
Cole McWilliams (0-1)
