Let’s blame the snow.
Mother Nature was in a wicked mood on Friday, blasting the fluffy white stuff all over eastern Ontario and making the drive to and from Millbrook Arena treacherous. Unfortunately, her treachery followed the Peterborough Timbermen inside and haunted them as they fell 11-7 to the Whitby Steelhawks.
It’s the Timbermen’s third loss in a row after starting the season 4-0, but they have no time to ruminate on that stat since they’re right back in action Saturday afternoon, hosting the St. Catharines ShockWave at 2 p.m.
Most of the players stayed in the area Friday night to help with Saturday’s travel, so head coach Joe Sullivan told them to rest and hydrate before the next matchup.
“We’re going to play a team from St. Catharines that’s on the upswing, like Whitby,” he said. “We didn’t take advantage tonight so now we have to climb ourselves out of a tough spot.”
Peterborough led 3-0 early but the game was tied by the end of the first quarter. Peterborough didn’t lead again and fought for every goal they got.
Defenseman Carter Badour scored a goal and assist to help the effort.
“I don’t get too many chances to go out the O door so I tried to use it the best I could. I felt good out there but there are a couple things we need to work on,” Badour said. “We have another chance to pull it together and I’m excited for it. Coach addressed the things we need to fix in the room and we’ll be ready to get back at it.”
Whitby, typically a big Peterborough rival, snapped a mini two-game losing streak to move up to 3-4 on the season. It was a hard fought game all around and it even started with a fight, with Kaleb Bingley dropping the gloves with Owen Boyle.
Though the Timbermen lost, their defense was very good, limiting the chances of a team that’s known to win big. Will Johnston made some great saves in goal including a stop on a penalty shot attempt.
“The defense did better for sure; we worked on a lot. But as we focused on making the defense better, our offense went a little cold on us,” Sullivan said. “We have to put a full game together. Will made a lot of good saves for us but we gave up six power play goals and a shorthanded goal. Tonight wasn’t a night that the referees helped us too much but I don’t think we helped ourselves either. Can we clean the game up? Sure we can. Defensively we got better. Offensively we have to stay focused and stay with it and play within ourselves.”
Peterborough was led offensively by Aaron Woods (2G/2A) and Cameron Simpson (2G). Cole Hanrahan led Whitby with four goals and one assist.
Game time versus St. Catharines is 2 p.m. at Millbrook Arena. Tickets are available at the door.
