The Peterborough Timbermen finished up their 2024 Arena Lacrosse League regular season with a loss on Saturday, 15-12 to the Ohsweken Bears at Millbrook Arena.
It dropped the Timbermen’s record to 5-9 and extended their losing streak to seven games. The Bears, on the other hand, snapped a 10-game losing streak to end their season with a record of 3-11, despite only bringing 12 runners and no backup goaltender to Millbrook.
Peterborough finishes the regular season in seventh place. They’ll visit the second place Brampton Express on Friday night in a one-game quarterfinal playoff at Brampton’s Memorial Arena. In six previous tries, Peterborough has never made it past the quarterfinals.
In their two matchups this season, Peterborough defeated Brampton 18-12 at Memorial Arena, but Brampton took the rematch at Millbrook Arena 13-11.
“We have to stay together and build on every shift,” previewed defender Sam Trumble. “We can’t turn on each other when they go on runs and stuff. It’s a game of runs so we just have to keep building.”
Trumble, a rookie this season, said that even with the losses, he’s getting better every game thanks to working with the veterans on the team.
“Just building game by game, trying to take away as much as I can.”
It was a quiet opening quarter, with the Timbermen leading 2-1 after the first 15 minutes on goals from Dylan Goddard and Jake Gasperetti, who finished off a two-on-one break with Kaleb Bingley, started by goaltender Ethan Woods.
Ohsweken went up 3-2 in the second before Goddard scored his second, followed 30 seconds later by a diving finish from defender Holden Lowes. What followed that, however, was a run of five even-strength goals from the Bears, who led 8-4 at halftime.
“We started the game well and then [our goaltender] got down on himself a little bit,” said head coach and GM Joe Sullivan. “Our offense wasn’t able to pick it up until later in the game. It was plugging holes in a floodgate, it felt like.”
Special teams went to work in the third, with five of the six combined goals scored on the power play. Peterborough outscored Ohsweken 4-2 in the quarter to get back within a pair at 10-8. Fred Hartley scored a pair back to back, Goddard got his third and Riley Curtis found the back of the net.
The teams traded goals to begin the fourth, Peterborough’s coming from another Gasperetti transition marker, with Ohsweken then going on a three-goal run for a 14-9 lead. Peterborough replied with a three-goal run of their own, with goals from second-year player Colton McNutt, Nathan Schultzkie with a trademark crease drive, and Goddard, with his team-leading fourth of the game.
The Timbermen pulled Woods from the goal with 1:30 left and had some good chances with the extra attacker before Heron Snow wrestled the ball free and scored into the empty net with 20 seconds left.
Lucas Beaver led the Bears in scoring with five goals and three assists. Goaltender Sam Forbes, in just his second league appearance, got the win and was named first star.
Friday’s game begins at 8 p.m. with tickets available at the door in Brampton.
TIMBERMEN SCORING:
Dylan Goddard (4-1)
Fred Hartley (2-1)
Jake Gasperetti (2-1)
Riley Curtis (1-6)
Nathan Schultzkie (1-1)
Holden Lowes (1-0)
Colton McNutt (1-0)
Jared Downey (0-3)
Kaleb Bingley (0-2)
Aaron Bradshaw (0-2)
Parker Sands (0-1)
Koichi Nakamura (0-1)
