The Peterborough Timbermen played an energetic game on Saturday night at the Memorial Centre but fell 12-9 to the defending Arena Lacrosse League champion Oshawa Outlaws.
The Timbermen built a 5-1 lead in the second quarter but some defensive breakdowns allowed the Outlaws to tie the game at five.
“Kevin Croswell made a lot of stops early that would have been trouble for us in the past and they weren’t tonight so we were able to get that 5-1 lead. When he got in a little bit of trouble and our defense played too lax and our offense needed to answer the bell, we just weren’t able to do that and to keep up with the pace of the game,” said head coach Joe Sullivan.
Assistant captain Dan Michel led the Timbermen with a pair of goals.
“We have a really strong unselfish offense this year,” Michel said. “I’ve been getting the ball and I’ve been getting open and burying my chances but everybody’s been super unselfish so it’s been easy.”
Michel tied the game at eight in the third quarter but the Outlaws outscored the Timbermen 6-3 during the back-and-forth period. Although the Timbermen’s defense shut down the Outlaws in the fourth, their offense wasn’t able to come back.
While the Timbermen had a large amount of turnover on their roster, Oshawa’s stayed mostly together. Led by captain Mike Triolo, the Outlaws looked like a mid-season team with their composure when down early.
“Even compared to last game we have a lot of new faces in our lineup,” said Timbermen captain Riley Campbell. “Some guys don’t even know each other’s names yet so we’re still getting to know each other. We didn’t play a bad game but in the second they score five goals in a row and it deflated us and we didn’t come back in the game.”
Sullivan said he expects a different result when the Timbermen hit the floor Sunday night to host the Whitby Steelhawks.
“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” he acknowledged. “The good thing is that we’ve got an absolute great group of guys that want to get better and are serious about this game so I look for better things really quickly tomorrow night.”
Game time is 7 p.m. It will be the last game at the Memorial Centre for the Timbermen during the 2018 season. Their remaining five “home games” will take place at Children’s Arena in Oshawa.
Brandon Benn led the Outlaws with three goals and an assist. Triolo had two goals and four assists while John St. John had two goals and three assists.
Scoring for the Timbermen:
Dan Michel (2-0)
Joel Matthews (1-2)
Colton Armstrong (1-1)
Fred Hartley (1-1)
Justin Kulla (1-1)
Nick Karam (1-0)
Blake Kenny (1-0)
Greg Reilly (1-0)
Mark Vradenburg (0-3)
Kaleb Bingley (0-1)
Rylee McKinnon (0-1)
Matt McLeod (0-1)
Cam Crowe (0-1)
