Orangeville 11-6, Toronto 7-6

2002 BEGINS!

thistles forever - Games 1 & 2

COBOURG - Nothing like a doubleheader weekend to start a new season.
True, it was exhibition lacrosse, still it was great to end an eight
month drought. Just a taste to whet the appetite as the real season
draws nearer.

ORANGEVILLE 11 ORILLIA 6

ORANGEVILLE - It may not have counted in the standings but by the crowd
size you wouldn't have thought so. It was hard to tell during the
first period, played in Tony Rose B arena but after an intermission hot
chocolate the play resumed in the BunnyBarn we all know and love. Let
me tell you, it was a playoff size audience.

The Northmen were missing numerous stars and went with goaltenders
Scott Patterson and Josh Agar. Chad Culp looked healthy again. He and
Bryan Kazarian were active but didn't really produce a great deal
offensively. Jamie Dowdell - who looked like a silver helmeted Darth
Vadar - led the offence with two goals and four assists. Steve
Jennings ran the power play and finished the night with a goal and
three helpers. Darren Halls seemed to be on the floor the entire third
period. He scored a couple of goals and looked like he could be very
productive if he gets power play time this year.

The brightest Northmen note was seeing Dustin Sanderson at the game.
He's looking very well and should be a great inspiration to the Horned
Heads this season.

On the Orillia side, I must admit disappointment. In their lineup were
both Thompsons, Josh Colley, Luke Wiles and Louis Alfred, yet all they
managed was 6 goals against two netminders with little Jr.A experience.
Troy Thompson looked the best and scored a goal and three assists.
Scoring champ Wiles had a goal and assist but missed numerous chances,
as he always seems to do when I watch him play. "J" Preece went the
distance in goal. Finding the ball after he made the save was like an
Easter Egg Hunt. He's got to keep the balls out of his pants!

On the negative side for the Kings, it appears certain that Kyle Wailes
will never play for them again. Stay tuned to hear where he ends up.
Also, Brock Robertson was up to his old tricks. He mixed it up with
Chad Culp early and Darren Halls late. Geez, you could put Culp and
Halls together and they wouldn't make one Robertson! In the Halls
incident, Steve Jennings stepped in for his teammate. His courage is
more to his credit than his fighting ability.

TORONTO 7 PETERBOROUGH 6

SCARBOROUGH - Be warned, the Beach Boys are looking very useful. Even
with a short bench they hung on to defeat the Lakers Saturday
afternoon. Chad Evans nearly tied it in the dying seconds as he
rattled a shot off the cross bar.

Great defence from a Toronto squad which should be a real force this
season. Granted Peterborough was without Scott Evans and Brian
Croswell(still in school) plus Mike Hobbins. But the Beaches were not
at full strength either.

The star of the contest was Brad Self. He was the entire offence for
the Green Machine and ended the day with 5 goals. The other two stars
entered midway through. Cole Murray came chugging off the bench as he
and Jamie McIntyre changed on the fly. Murray showed some of the
flashes of brilliance which frustrated the Northmen last year. Yet
John McLellan was King for the day. He was outstanding the second half
of the contest. With the big defence Toronto can put in front of him,
McLellan could make people forget about Matt Vinc pretty fast this
season.

The 7-6 scoreline we'll chalk up to exhibition lacrosse. After all, it
was Peterborough's first pre-season game in about 20 years! We won't
look at the league's best offence(as well as Orillia's) scoring only a
half dozen times and panic at the idea the league could be even more
defensive in 2002. If Jr.A gets any lower scoring the World Cup of
soccer will have more goals next month!