The Peterborough Timbermen are back on an even keel after splitting the weekend with one win and one loss. Saturday evening they defeated the Toronto Monarchs 14-10 at Millbrook Arena, a game that snapped a five-game losing skid. They did fall the next afternoon 18-7 to the first place Six Nations Snipers at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena, but the team has reason to hope heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
Final positioning will come down to the last weekend of play. The Timbermen will host the Oshawa Outlaws at 2 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. Peterborough is in fourth place with a 5-6 record while Oshawa is right behind them in 5th place at 4-7. First and second place receive a bye through to the semifinals, while the teams finishing sixth and seventh will participate in a play-in for the right to join third through fifth in the quarterfinals, to be held the weekend of April 9th and 10th. The final four will be held the weekend after that, with all playoff games taking place at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville.
Last week after the loss to Whitby, defenseman Kaleb Bingley predicted the Timbermen would win their last three games if the team was able to come together. He’s one for two so far after Sunday’s shorthanded effort, but he can still come out on top if the Timbermen can defeat the Outlaws next weekend.
“The teams that have won this league before have had downs to their seasons, but staying together and keeping each other up is essential,” said Bingley, who contributed a goal and assist on Saturday. “Positive reinforcement goes a lot farther than negativity. You play worse when you get down on each other and we try to avoid that.”
Saturday night, Aaron Woods opened the scoring 35 seconds in. Toronto’s Campbell Parker evened the score quickly, but the teams settled in for a long stretch. Toronto took the lead with 4:57 to go in the first, but Joel Wright tied thing at two with “the most amazing goal [he’s] ever scored” before Woods put the T-Men up 3-2.
The Monarchs retook the lead until a pair from Mitchell Geoffroy 55 seconds apart put the Timbermen permanently back on top. Fred Hartley and John Vezina traded goals a minute apart late in the second. Peterborough led 6-5 at the half.
Geoffroy scored his third of the game 14 seconds into an early power play early in the third. Bingley then scored as he was trying to open up space for Geoffroy up top, but ended up coming around the net and scoring himself. Toronto scored two but a shorthanded goal from Joel Matthews gave the Timbermen the momentum.
Sensing danger with the Monarchs pressing in the fourth, the team tightened down on defense and kept the pressure up on the offense, which they hadn’t been able to do in the last few games. Each time the Monarchs scored, the Timbermen responded quickly. They also capitalized on two late Monarchs’ penalties.
“The boys pulled together and played a full 60 minutes, and that was the difference,” Bingley said. “Each player did their part, trusted in each other and put forth an effort.”
Woods (4G/3A) and Geoffroy (4G/1A) led the attack, while Joel Matthews chipped in a pair of goals while assisting on seven others. Single goals came from Bingley, Wright, Hartley and Connor Lyons.
Sunday, the team ended up shorthanded with only 14 runners available to make the trek to Six Nations. They were outscored 5-0 in the first, had a great second quarter outscoring the Snipers 6-5, but then only scored once more in the remaining 30 minutes. Hartley and Woods each scored a pair of goals with singles to Wright, Jordan Hendrycks, and Todd Chapman.
Tickets for Saturday’s matinee at Millbrook Arena will be available at the door. $10 for adults, $5 for kids ages 5-14. Children under five are always free, and kids are encouraged to bring their sticks and helmets to play on the floor at halftime.
