“We’re not as good as we thought we were” was the main message that Timbermen head coach Joe Sullivan had after the Timbermen lost their fourth consecutive game on Saturday afternoon at Millbrook Arena.
A fantastic 4-0 start to the season now sees the Timbermen struggling to stay near the top of the standings with a .500 record. They have only four games left this season to improve their standing in a league with as much parity as its ever seen. After Sunday’s ALL games, the Timbermen hold second place by virtue of their goals scored/against records. Three other teams have an identical win/loss record.
In a 12-game season, there’s just not enough time to struggle at finding an identity.
“It’s a bit of an ego check for a lot of people. A lot of people were given the grace to do a lot more than maybe we should have let them, so we have to reel them in,” Sullivan stated. “The best teams are the ones that come together this time of year. We have four games to prove ourselves.”
Aaron Woods scored 44 seconds into the game. Brine Rice and Fred Hartley gave the Timbermen a 3-0 lead shortly after. But as in Friday’s game, they slowly let the lead slip away and were tied 3-3 at the end of the first.
The second quarter was a defensive battle with St. Catharines outscoring Peterborough 2-1. Cameron Simpson’s first of the game was the lone Timbermen marker. The ShockWave led 5-4 at halftime and faced some adversity heading into the second half after starting goaltender Will Johnston stopped a shot with his collarbone.
Sullivan said that Johnston will be evaluated for fractures and the team will take all necessary precautions with his health.
Marko Ćelić took over for Johnston and backstopped the Timbermen to a strong third quarter. Simpson and Woods each scored twice in the frame with Zack Thompson and Joel Wright, with his first as a Timberman, also scored to give Peterborough a 10-6 lead after three.
Coming in midway through the game was no sweat for Ćelić.
“Johnston’s in development and still young, where I come in as a seasoned vet,” he said. “I can read the players, read the offense and defense better. It was more so about finding the groove, how the game was going, and adjusting to it.”
But the ShockWave went to their outside shot in the fourth quarter and utilized a quick transition game to surge ahead. Ciaron Costello and Connor Lyons exchanged goals before the ShockWave rattled off five in a row for a 12-11 lead.
Mitchell Geoffroy tied the game late but an ill-timed penalty put the Timbermen at a severe disadvantage heading into the sudden-death overtime. It only took former Timberman Chris Attwood 20 seconds to score with the outside shot.
“We were down a man; they gave it to their top shooter and we were just one step too short to push. He shot it to the edge of the post and it went in,” described Ćelić.
Improvements were made on Saturday after Friday’s loss to Whitby. Twelve goals compared to seven; the team held the lead for a longer period of time; and they limited St. Catharines’ special teams chances, only giving up one power play goal (the game winner, unfortunately) and one shorthanded goal. In a league where penalties are called more often than not, that’s a pretty impressive stat.
Despite those positives, the loss stung hard.
“We’ve been here before,” Sullivan said. “This is the whole commitment issue. When you miss key players that decide to take a weekend off it’s going to show.”
For both games, the Timbermen were without Jeff Geddis and Riley Thompson with work commitments; Nick Finlay, who chose to travel with the Colorado Mammoth; and Joel Matthews.
Skkylar Thomas missed Saturday’s game with work commitments and Todd Chapman was suspended one game for a game misconduct earned Friday night after a disagreement (a pretty polite disagreement, but a disagreement nonetheless) with the referees. Tyler Grandel drew back into the lineup after sitting Friday as a healthy scratch and was joined by Jr. Lakers grad Holden Lowes in his first ALL game. Mikael Chullen was a late scratch Saturday after rolling his ankle in the warmup.
Next Saturday the Timbermen travel to Children’s Arena in Oshawa to face the Steelhawks at 1 p.m. They return home to Millbrook Arena on Saturday, March 26th to host the Toronto Monarchs at 2 p.m.
