Durham Tops Barrie

The Durham Turfdogs hosted the Blizzard in a Saturday afternoon contest to open the GM Centre for the 2014 season.

Durham was led my Mack O’Brien with 4 goals, Nick Diachenko with two goals and three helpers, and Scott Defrancesco with 2 goals and 2 assists.  Barrie was led by Caleb Wiles with 5 points (3+2) and Jonas Derks with six points (1+5).

The first quarter was close up until about 5 minutes left when the Blizzard took off on a five goal streak. Durham would have two goals in the first quarter, both of which came from Defrancesco. At the end of one Barrie led 6-2.

Into the second, Durham had enough of Barrie as they started what would be an 8 goal streak. Mack O’Brien would put in a hat trick within the second quarter, with two of the goals a part of Durham’s streak. Barrie trailed 11-8 at the end of the first half.

Starting off the second half early, O’Brien would go for the five hole and give a little bit more cushion onto the lead. Wiles not feeling it as he put in his third of the game to seal his hat trick, and cut the lead back down to 3. The Turfdogs ended the third quarter with a goal from Diachenako with just 37 seconds left to give themselves a nice 4 point lead heading into the final frame.

Starting off the fourth the Turfdogs would open with two goals before the Blizzard could do anything. An attempted comeback from Barrie wouldn’t prevail as they couldn’t get within less than 4.

Durham ended their home-opener on a high note with a final goal from Jordan Robertson, to top the Blizzard 18-13. Barrie now 0-2 heads home to take on the Lock Monsters for the second time this season.

Demons Come back to Top Cyclops

The Oshweken Demons edge by to take their home opener over the South Western Cyclops.

The Demons were led by Blue Hill with a nine point night from four goals and five assists, followed by Tom Mentour (5+2), Chris Attwood (4+3), and Wayne Vanevery (7) who all had seven point performances in their 21-19 win.

As for the Cyclops they were led by Ryan Campbell with three goals and a helper. Followed by Patrick McCorory with and Jimmy Purves who both put in three goals.

The SW Cyclopes would open up the scoring with back to back goals, but it wasn’t long before the Demons were on the board. At the end of one the Demons trailed 8-6, and into the second it wasn’t looking too good for the Demons.

The second quarter started with three quick goals from the visitors, as they started to pad their lead. At the end of the half the Demons were starting to get something going but still trailed 13-10.

It was until almost mid way through the third when Vanevery put in three straight, that would start the comeback for the Demons. His three goals would be the first of a four goal streak, which ended with the Demons up by 1. At the end of three it was tied at 15, after a late goal from Mike Burke to tie it back up.

Into the final 15 minutes of the game, the Demons decided it was time to run the show, but the Cyclopes not giving up the fight. Throughout the fourth it was goal for goal, until under five minutes to go when the Demons put in back-to-back goals. After gaining a two point lead, the Cyclopes would only come within one. Montour tossed in his final goal of the game with under a minute left to seal the win for the Demons.

Lock Monsters 2-0 after Opening Weekend

The Niagara Lock Monsters capped off a double header weekend with a second straight win on Sunday. After topping the Barrie Blizzard 16-8 on Saturday afternoon, they showed no signs of fatigue defeating the Durham Turfdogs 14- 4.

Andrew Potter led the Lock Monsters on offence with a 6 point performance with two goals and four assists. Meanwhile, between the pipes, Connor Danko shut out the Turfdogs throughout the entire third quarter and allowed only a single goal in the fourth sealing the Niagara victory.

The first quarter opened up with back-to-back goals from Niagara, with one from rookie Tyler Carvalho and the other from Andrew Potter. Durham’s Dylan Goddard would get one by Danko to end the first with a score of 2-1.
Into the second, the Turfdogs would put in a pair of goals, scored by Nick Diachenko and Goddard to take the lead for the first time. Niagara would answer with a goal of their own by Sean Gillies, which would end the first half all tied up at 3.

The Niagara Lock Monster’s would take the lead back just 33 seconds into the second half with a goal from Captain Brad Favero. Favero’s goal was the first of nine for Niagara in the third quarter alone. Danko had a flawless third quarter for the second straight game as Durham was unable to capitalize on anything throughout the quarter.

The Turfdogs would end their drought in the fourth with a goal from Scott Defrancesco. But, Niagara would counter with goals by Jordan Daradick and Andy Tober. Defrancesco alongside Dylan Goddard led all Turdogs with two points each in the game.

Box Score available at canadianlacrosse.com
Week 2 sees Durham host the Barrie Blizzard on Saturday, February 8 at 2 p.m. at the GM Centre. That evening, the Ohsweken Demons open the season against the SouthWest Cyclops at Iroquois Lacrosse Areana beginning at 8 p.m. On Sunday, February 9, Niagara travels to Barrie to take on the Blizzard at 2 p.m. at the Barrie Molson Centre. 

Niagara Comes Back to Win Home Opener

The Niagara Lock Monsters kicked off their season with an 16-8 win over the Barrie Blizzard in a Saturday afternoon match up at Seymour Hannah Arena.

In the first quarter, the Blizzard would take control by scoring the opening goal as Geoff McNulty found the back of the net, assisted by Caleb Wiles and Spencer Janes.  It would take Niagara almost ten minutes to get on the board as Corey Fowler took off to put one in unassisted and tie the game at 1.  Barely 20 seconds later, the Blizzard answered Fowler’s goal to start a three goal streak.  Jon Arnold of the Lock Monster’s would toss in a pair of goals to end the first with Barrie leading 4-3.

Barrie opened the scoring in the second quarter with a quick goal by Tyler Gibbons.  From there, Niagara would go on a solid goal streak that would stretch from the second quarter and into the third. The streak would include a hat trick from Andrew Potter; two of the three goals from Potter would come on penalty shots.

Throughout the third quarter, frustrations began to come out from both sides with Barrie unable to capitalize on their power play opportunities.  Niagara shut out Barrie in the third quarter and led 14-5 going into the final frame.

In the fourth, Barrie’s Tyler Gibbons found the back of the net and put an end to the streak for Niagara. Niagara’s Travis Gibbons would put in his second of the game to answer, and later added third to seal a hat trick.  In the end, three goals in the fourth quarter wasn’t enough for Barrie to come back and Niagara went on to a 16-8 victory.

Box Score available here

Niagara’s next game comes today at 2 p.m. as they take on the Durham Turfdogs at Seymour Hannah Arena.