A great effort wasn’t quite good enough on Friday night as the Peterborough Timbermen fell 17-16 to the Whitby Steelhawks at Children’s Arena.
The loss, combined with Whitby’s win and a 13-12 OT win for St. Catharines over Six Nations, drops the Timbermen to fifth place in the Arena Lacrosse League standings with four games left.
Penalties killed the flow of the game. The Timbermen took 14 minors and one major including five each in the first and third, where the Steelhawks had the advantage. Each team took four minors in the second.
“That’s just too many. That’s not a lacrosse game, that’s a referees match that just went south,” said head coach Joe Sullivan. “We can play old-school smash ‘em up lacrosse with anyone but when [the refereeing] is inconsistent the players never get a feel for what they’re looking for and frustration mounts.”
The Timbermen gave up nine power play goals while scoring four of their own.
Despite the loss, Sullivan was thrilled with what his team did.
“Our effort was never in question tonight,” Sullivan said. “The game was ours, the game was theirs. They got up 7-1 and we came back. I’m thrilled. That’s character and that’s the kind of stuff you need.”
Ryan Masters relieved Brett Perras after the Steelhawks built up a 7-1 lead. Masters was solid, sparking the Timbermen who got a goal from Fred Hartley with 38 seconds to play in the first. They reeled off four in a row to start the second before Danny Michel slammed the ball past Lukas Coote at 6:59 to tie the game.
The Steelhawks went up 10-7 before Mark Vradenburg cut the lead to two before the half. Whitby kept the lead throughout the game but the Timbermen stayed close on their heels rest of the way.
The Timbermen were missing some key defensemen in Doug Utting, Shane Francis and Greg Reilly, but got Chris Attwood and Joel Matthews back on offense. The two combined for 12 points including four goals from Matthews and three from Attwood.
“I have unselfish teammates that want to get me the ball and do get me the ball,” Matthews praised. “It helps when you have every other guy on the team putting the ball in your stick. I just tried to change my shots and change the angles to switch it up and keep them guessing and luckily they fell in.”
Work commitments kept Matthews out of last week’s 9-7 loss to the Six Nations Snipers. He knew he would have been a difference maker had he played that game, so against Whitby he played with an edge to redeem himself. By halftime he’d battled through an ankle injury, had crashed headfirst into the net on a scoring attempt and had blood streaming down both knees. He was ready to make those physical sacrifices to give his team a boost.
“I had a little chip on my shoulder because I don’t like losing and that’s really the bottom line,” he said. “I don’t like to drive this far to waste other people’s time. I like to win.”
Every goal or two was alternated in the second half. No team could keep any sort of momentum going. Whitby led 16-13 with time running out but consecutive goals from Attwood and Matthews brought the Timbermen back to a goal with 1:58 remaining. Whitby’s Cam Milligan scored on a long-shot through traffic to restore the two-goal lead.
Down 17-15 with 50 seconds to play, newly signed Connor Buchanan, brother of the Peterborough Lakers’ Kyle Buchanan, got the Timbermen back within a goal. They pulled their goalie but a post and a pad save from the Steelhawks’ Lukas Coote ended the game.
The game goes in cycles. Last week the Timbermen’s defense stole the show. This week it was the offense. Sullivan said getting the two to gel at the same time will make a difference.
“I believe if we put our best team on the floor we’re better than any team in the league,” he said. “We just can’t get everybody together here at one time. Consistency has been the problem. Once we do get everyone on the floor it’s not going to be a problem for us.”
Matthews said the team is looking to go into the playoffs on a hot streak.
“We want to carry some momentum into playoffs,” he said. “We’ve got four games left and we just want to get better each game.”
His big effort was noticed by Sullivan, who singled out Matthews, Attwood and Buchanan with great games.
“I thought they were fantastic,” he praised. “Also Brett Coons was great on face-offs and was a physical force back there. Ryan Masters came in again and was able to pull us out of a drought and stand up big and that’s all you can ask for. He’s done it for us time and time again and I couldn’t be happier.”
The Timbermen have a rematch with the Steelhawks next Saturday, March 3 at Children’s Arena at 8 p.m., and Sullivan is already looking forward to it.
“They play fast lacrosse and very skilled lacrosse. Toronto is at the top of the standings but I believe Whitby is the measuring stick. They’re the team to watch. If we can stick with them, I feel strong about what we’re going to do.”
JP Kealey had six goals and four assists for the Steelhawks. Cam Milligan added three goals and seven assists, Blaze Riordan had three goals and two assists, and Austin Murphy one goal and six assists.
Matthews led Peterborough with four goals and three assists. Both Attwood and Dan Michel had three goals and two assists each. Fred Hartley contributed a pair of goals and one assist, and Mark Vradenburg scored once and added six assists. Buchanan, Rylee McKinnon and Cam Garlin had singles.
