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.

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.