The Peterborough Timbermen suffered a second consecutive loss on Saturday, falling to the Paris RiverWolves 14-12 at Brampton’s Memorial Arena. As in the week prior, the Timbermen started strong but suffered a power outage in the second half.
“It was our biggest setback of the season,” said head coach Joe Sullivan. “With a full roster we played very strong out of the gate and played the way we planned. Going into the second half we discussed closing down their offense and playing strong defense and staying tight. That never happened and we fell into discipline issues both to the penalty box and to our game approach. I’ve asked the guys to be professional about their approach going forward and come prepared to play 60 minutes for the first time in three weeks.”
The Timbermen led 7-1 after a mammoth first quarter that included three power play goals and one shorthanded marker. They began to allow Paris to crawl back in during the second quarter, but still led 9-6 at halftime. Paris shut them out in the third to take a 10-9 lead. Aaron Woods and Skkylar Thomas briefly gave the Timbermen back the lead early in the fourth but Peterborough was outscored the rest of the way.
Sullivan was impressed with the play of Blake Gibson-McDonald, who made his Timbermen debut and contributed one assist. Gibson-McDonald was sent down from the Philadelphia Wings’ practice roster to get him more playing time.
“He led by example on and off the floor to support the team,” Sullivan said. “We’re looking for big things from him in the future.”
Woods led the Timbermen with four goals and an assist, while Thomas scored a hat trick and one assist. Steven Walsh suffered the loss in goal. Drake Smith and Kurtis Woodland led the RiverWolves with a hat trick. Cameron Dunkerley got the win in goal.
The RiverWolves, who went on to defeat the Oshawa Outlaws on Sunday afternoon 18-9, now hold third place while the Timbermen slip to second place with a 4-2 record behind the Six Nations Snipers at 5-2.
With a shortened season due to COVID-19, this game marked the halfway point of the season for the Timbermen. They have six games remaining and four of them are at Millbrook Arena.
This coming weekend the Timbermen play a doubleheader at Millbrook Arena. Friday night at 8 p.m. they host the Whitby Steelhawks, and Saturday at 2 p.m. they host the St. Catharines ShockWave. Both teams are tied for last place. Ticket information will be released early this week.
SCORING FOR THE TIMBERMEN:
Aaron Woods (4-1)
Skkylar Thomas (3-1)
Brad Lyons (1-1)
Brine Rice (1-1)
Mitchell Geoffroy (1-1)
Joel Matthews (1-1)
Zack Thompson (1-0)
Cameron Simpson (0-1)
Blake Gibson-McDonald (0-1)
