Saturday’s 18-6 win over the Whitby Steelhawks didn’t feel quite as good as it should have for the Peterborough Timbermen. Though they beat a rival and reclaimed second place in the Arena Lacrosse League standings, the game was marred by a serious injury to one of the Steelhawks that left an emotional pall on the second half.
As Cameron Simpson gave the Timbermen 10-5 lead with 3:26 left in the third, Steelhawks’ defender Paxton Leroux, a Peterborough native, snapped his leg on the play. Both teams were sent to their dressing rooms as trainers and paramedics attended to Leroux before whisking him off to the hospital.
“Lacrosse is a small world and you see an injury like that, that’s probably going to have a guy out for the season, is something you would never wish upon anybody especially a great local athlete like Paxton,” said Timbermen head coach Joe Sullivan. “Hopefully it’s something that’s fixable and he’ll get back up and be a healthy guy and be ready to play again.”
Whitby could have used that moment as a rallying point to stage a comeback, but it was the Timbermen who put pedal to the medal instead to keep their lead, knowing at this point – with four games left in the season – how important playoff positioning will be, especially with the Steelhawks as a potential first-round opponent. Not only did they continue their offensive onslaught, they stepped up defensively as well to support goaltender Nick Damude, who made 57 saves during the game.
“We understood that [the injury] may have been a lull for them to take advantage but in turn we took it to them and started scoring. Our defense shut them down and didn’t let them get inside,” stated captain Mark Vradenburg. “We soaked a ton of shots today; that was incredible. It starts from the goalie out and Damude did what he’s done all year and played incredible. It was a collective win but he was unreal.”
Sullivan has been rotating his goaltenders this season but chose to let Damude play out the whole game after allowing only four goals in the first half. He said backup Ethan Woods, slated to play the second half, pulled himself to let his teammate go back in.
“It was fantastic to see,” Sullivan said of the show of support. “Nick had a game going and sometimes you just get a feel. He only had four goals against after a half so we really didn’t think it was fair to take that away from him.”
Tim Bergin and Fred Hartley gave the Timbermen a 2-0 lead early in the first, but Whitby tied it quickly. Simpson picked up a shorthanded goal to give Peterborough back the lead, and then Aaron Woods, Hartley and Ty Thompson scored in succession to put the Timbermen up 6-2 after the first.
Vradenburg said the Timbermen had expected more of a pushback from the Steelhawks going into the game. Whitby had won two in a row and the Timbermen had lost two in a row.
“We understood that they were not to be taken lightly because they have some good ballers over there like returning guys Cam Milligan and Austin Murphy. We couldn’t treat it like last game where we got up and got complacent but ultimately we understood that they’re a good team and every team, whoever shows up is a good team in this league, from what I see at least.”
Milligan and Murphy were both big parts of the Steelhawks’ 2018 championship and only recently returned to the team. They were held to a combined six points against the Timbermen. Assistant coach Chad Culp, a former NLLer who has been suiting up to help the sometimes-shorthanded group, was held to a single assist.
Murphy started a short two-goal run for Whitby in the second with a crease dive. Luke Pilcher’s second of the game, on a power play, cut their deficit to 6-4. Bergin finally got the Timbermen on the board in the period with just 48 seconds left in the half.
Simpson opened the third with a four-on-three shorthanded goal. Colton Armstrong and Culp were both ejected from the game following a collision involving Damude. Culp was later asked to leave as a fan, for loudly disagreeing with the referees.
Doug Utting and Jeff Fernandes traded goals before the game was stopped for Leroux’s injury. The Timbermen scored three times in the final 1:43 of the third for a 13-5 lead and tacked on three more to start the fourth for a 16-5 lead.
Parker Sands had a big fourth with a fight against Mike Byrne, a goal and an assist.
The Timbermen are back in action the next two Saturdays for a home-and-home series with the Toronto Monarchs in a battle for second place. Next weekend they are at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville and then back in Oshawa on March 16th.
Scoring for the Timbermen:
Cameron Simpson (4-1)
Tim Bergin (3-4)
Fred Hartley (2-3)
Aaron Woods (2-2)
Ty Thompson (2-0)
Doug Utting (1-3)
Joe Hall (1-2)
Parker Sands (1-2)
Blake Kenny (1-2)
Joe Wasson (1-0)
Zack Thompson (0-3)
Mark Vradenburg (0-3)
Tanner Poole (0-1)
Brett Coons (0-1)
Colton Armstrong (0-1)
