June 16, 2007

NEWS OUT OF THE EAST

Just when you thought the East would be a 1-2 race all season long between the star studded heavyweights Brampton and Peterborough, the rest of the pack is serving notice that on any given day anyone is beatable. The stunner of the week took place last Saturday night as the visiting Barrie Lakeshores traveled to Brampton to face the 1st place Excelsiors and in an upset of gargantuan proportions they defeated the home side by a 10-2 annihilation. Not only did Barrie beat Brampton on the road but to hold the potent offense of the Excelsiors to a measly 2 goals on their home court is a phenomenal feat. Arizona Sting goalie Rob Blasdell was the star of the night for the Lindsay Sanderson coached Lakeshores while offensively Chad Culp led the way with 4 goals while Luke Wiles and Mark “whose house” Steenhuis each chipped in with a double. In an interesting side note, Brampton’s 2 big snipers were completely shut down as Josh Sanderson was held to only 1 assist while Aaron Wilson was neutralized to a goose egg with zero points – talk about a statement win by Barrie! The highly anticipated clash between the league’s top two teams took place on Thursday, June 7th in Brampton as the defending Mann Cup Champs Peterborough Lakers took their magic act on the road and in a surprisingly low scoring affair, the match finished in a 5-5 overtime tie. The score was slightly misleading as the Lakers top 3 studs – John Grant, Tracey Kelusky and Ryan Cousins were not in the lineup while Brampton was without veteran righties Blaine Manning and Dan Teat. Former Adanac Josh Sanderson led the way for Brampton as he was involved in all of Brampton’s goals with a 5 point night while for Peterborough goalie Pat O’Toole, Scott Self and Scott Evans each had 2 points. Goalie Pat O’Toole finishes with as many points as the team’s top runner – are you kiddin me? You have to get out the CLA archives to see if that has ever happened before.
The last place Six Nations Chiefs won their first game last week defeating the slumping and underachieving Brooklin Redmen by a 14-10 count. Coach Duane Jacobs and his Chiefs traveled to Whitby to face the Red Shirts and after starting the season surprisingly 0-5, the Chiefs with numerous NLL players defeated Brooklin as Minnesota Storm rookie Dean Hill led the way with 3 goals and 4 assists while Tom Montour and Delby Powless each chipped in with a pair. For the Redmen, the Big 3 of Shawn Williams, Jeff Zywicki and Gavin Prout did most of the damage scoring 7 of the team’s 10 goals. Look for Brooklin to creep up in the standings with the acquisition of future hall of famer Bob Watson from St. Regis. With the likes of Gavin Prout, Shawn Williams, Jeff Zywicki, Steve Toll, Mike Accursi and Chris Driscoll, the Redmen are too talented to be 2-4 in the standings – they are the East’s most underachieving team thus far into the young season. The struggles of Brooklin is a sign of just how strong the teams are out east and with more than half a season remaining there is plenty of time for the team from Whitby to get the ship steered in the right direction because come playoff time this is one team I would not want to face.

TONIGHTS OPPONENT – NANAIMO TIMBERMEN

The Nanaimo Timbermen return to Coquitlam tonight looking for payback as the A’s defeated the much improved Nanaimo club last Saturday night 11-10 on the strength of a last minute goal by sharpshooter Peter Veltman. The T-men fought back from a 6-2 deficit mid way thru the 2nd stanza but came up a tad short in their bid to upset the home town Adanacs as Chris Levis was sensational down the stretch keeping the visitors off the score sheet the final ten minutes of the game. Offensively, Nanaimo was led by the impressive Matt Taylor who had a 4 goal night while Mike Morrison chipped in with a hat-trick. For the Adanacs, the crafty vet Curt Malawsky and his Arizona Sting teammate Peter Veltman each had hat-tricks and with the victory the A’s win their third straight and are alone in 4th spot. Nanaimo sit in 2nd spot in the standing tied with Burnaby and are thus far the most pleasant surprise this young season. Much of Nanaimo’s success can be attributed to the outstanding goaltending of former Victoria Shamrock Matt King who leads the WLA with a 7.33 GAA and the scoring from the hot stick of Matt Taylor who is 3rd in the league with 15 goals. Last week, Coquitlam welcomed two new players to the club as one of the league’s top defenders Rich Catton joined the A’s along with transition ace Trent Smalley from the Burrards in exchange for Graham Palmer and two future 2nd round draft picks. Both Catton and Smalley will play key roles in the Adanacs march to the Mann Cup.

2 MINUTES IN THE BOX WITH BRUCE MURRAY

Most memorable moment – Winning 2003 World Indoor
In my spare time I like to – Read and garden
Favorite midnight snack – Frozen grapes
Favorite TV show – Married with Children
Hardest hitter in the game today – Tom Hajek
Funniest teammate you ever had – Brad MacDonald
Best goalie in lacrosse today – Bob Watson
Cd in your car – CCR greatest hits
Biggest influence in your lacrosse career – Frank Neilson
Best trash talker – Curt Malawsky
Favorite rock band – CCR
Most talented offensive player in the game today – Colin Doyle
Favorite movie of all-time – Braveheart
Favorite road arena in the NLL – Pepsi Center (Denver)
Your most overused saying – Beat It

I’M OUT…….