First game, first win for the Peterborough Timbermen who narrowly edged past the Oshawa Outlaws 16-15 at Children’s Arena on Saturday afternoon in a wildly exciting season opener.
Aaron Woods’ goal with 1:57 left was the game winner, just after the Outlaws had tied the game at 15 on a late major power play.
“It was a little bit of a messy game at times but overall I couldn’t really ask for better for the first go-round,” said captain Mark Vradenburg. “We started slow but we started to figure things out… and as the game went on we got collectively better on all sides of the ball. Our D was really solid down the stretch, popping their guys after they were shooting and such.”
The game was back-and-forth and the teams tied six separate times. Fourteen of the game’s 31 goals were scored on the power play.
Oshawa took an early 2-0 lead before Woods scored the Timbermen’s first goal of the season. Oshawa’s Jake McNabb and Peterborough’s Joe Hall traded goals to end the first quarter after which the Outlaws led 3-2.
Here’s @toddchapman3’s first ALL goal! @ArenaLacrosse pic.twitter.com/t93EDHk6sr
— Ptbo Timbermen (@PtboTimbermen) December 28, 2019
The Outlaws had the advantage in the second quarter until Vradenburg tied the game at five. Returning forward Joel Matthews put the Timbermen up 6-5. Jeff Geddis and Todd Chapman extended the lead to 8-5 with their first ALL goals, both scored in transition. Oshawa scored four in a row to end the period with Nick Andreoli giving them a 9-8 lead at the half.
Parker Sands scored Peterborough’s only goal in the third, while Oshawa scored four consecutive power play goals for a 13-9 lead.
The final goal count was impressive but with all the penalties it was a choppy game, and those are more difficult to play.
“When you’re not playing five-on-five it takes the flow out of the game. Our offense had a bit of a hard time at certain times getting that flow because we were on the PK for so long,” Vradenburg said. “If our offense gets 10 goals and our tranny picks up four we shouldn’t have a problem winning each game.”
The Timbermen came alive in the fourth, showing the same tenacity and heart that saw them finish in second place last season.
“We rallied back,” said defenseman Shane Francis. “There were a couple of spurts where we weren’t playing our game but we went back to the bench and talked it over and finished the next five minutes strong and the next five minutes after that.”
Vradenburg scored twice in the first 32 seconds of the frame. Matthews followed that up with two, tying the game. Mitchell Geoffroy and Davis Prince’s first ALL goals completed a six-goal run that saw the Timbermen suddenly up 15-13.
Oshawa did come back and tie the game again with Jake McNabb scoring goals five and six of the night just 21 seconds apart. Woods replied eight seconds later to win it for the Timbermen.
“It was a pretty sloppy game but what we would expect in a first game,” said head coach and general manager Joe Sullivan. “Although we had three good training camp sessions you still expect to come out and be a little sloppy. When you can put 16 goals up and battle through a lot of adversity that’s a big bonus. Our concern would be defensively we have to play a little cleaner, a little smarter and stay out of the box. Landon Kells saw an awful lot of shots and came up big for us.”
It was a solid debut for Kells in goal. High goal counts aren’t unusual in the ALL and he made timely saves when needed, included a stop with 5.6 seconds left that preserved the win.
Vradenburg expects a more composed effort in future games once the team begins to gel again but he’s pleased with what the rookies showed in their first game.
“The new kids showed up for sure. We all, even the veterans, have to iron out the kinks. That’ll come as we get more familiar with each other as well. We couldn’t ask for a better group of rookies.”
Fans are encouraged to come to the Timbermen’s home opener next Saturday at Millbrook Arena at 3 p.m. against the Paris RiverWolves for some fun, fast-paced lacrosse! Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children 14 and under and will be available at the door.
