The Peterborough Timbermen fell to a familiar foe on Saturday afternoon at Children’s Arena. The Whitby Steelhawks (4-0), who knocked the Timbermen out of the 2019 playoffs, defeated them 16-13 on a snowy day in Durham Region. It moves the Timbermen to 2-2 and keeps them in fourth place in league standings.
The game was played four-on-four as the Arena Lacrosse League experiments with new innovations meant to open up the game.
“It was tougher from a defensive perspective how to play it well because in a five-man game you’re used to having that extra guy to be able to slide and float and shut off the swings,” said first-year defenseman Todd Chapman. “Four-on-four you have to switch up your mindset, but if that’s the way that they want to go then I think we’re fast enough to keep up with the rate of play that we have to be at.”
Missing several key forwards, Peterborough was still able to jump out to an early 2-0 lead on goals from Zack Thompson and Mitchell Geoffroy. Whitby got back in it with a three-goal run to take the lead. Aaron Woods and Cam Milligan exchanged goals late in the period after which Whitby led 4-3.
The Steelhawks outscored the Timbermen 4-2 in the second period. Joe Wasson’s goal with one second left gave the Timbermen momentum heading into halftime and Woods and Joe Hall each scored to close the gap early in the third. Dylan Hutchison briefly put Whitby back up by two, but a three-goal Peterborough run highlighted by Wasson’s second of the game gave the Timbermen their first lead at 10-9.
Unfortunately, the Steelhawks’ offense became too much in the fourth and they scored four power play goals, one shorthanded and one even strength. A major penalty late in the game rendered the Timbermen unable to mount a comeback.
“That was a tough late call,” said Chapman. “A couple bounces the other way and it’s a different game. Their goaltending bailed them out. It’s hard to beat a goalie that’s stopping the second and third opportunities as well as (Lukas) Coote was. He stood on his head on a lot of those loose ball rebounds and that was impressive.”
Milligan (3G/5A), Hutchison (2G/6A), Liam Osborne (4G/2A) and Jeff Fernandes (3G/2A) led Whitby. Travis Szabolcs added a pair of goals.
Peterborough returns home to Millbrook Arena this coming Saturday, January 25th to host the Six Nations Snipers (0-5) at 3 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children under 14 and are available at the door.
Scoring for the Timbermen:
Aaron Woods (5-4)
Joe Wasson (2-2)
Skkylar Thomas (2-2)
Joe Hall (1-5)
Zack Thompson (1-1)
Justin Bragg (1-0)
Mitchell Geoffroy (1-0)
Jeff Geddis (0-2)
Cam Crowe (0-2)
Lyman Beatty (0-1)
Todd Chapman (0-1)
Ty Thompson (0-1)
