Whitby 7 Orangeville 6

WHITBY SLIPS BY ORANGEVILLE

by thistles forever - Game #27

PORT WHITBY - Defensive lacrosse ruled Tuesday night. Despite all the offensive woes of the Warriors and Northmen Matt Taylor earned Whitby the 7-6 victory with an unlikely goal 13 seconds from the end. The Hornheads now go home to regroup and try to become the first Jr.A team since Peterborough in 1979 to comeback from 3-1.

Mike Morrison started the scoring with a great David Copperfield impersonation. Now you see the ball and now you don't as he beat Scott Patterson from an impossible angle. Bryan Kazarian set up Chad Culp perfectly to tie the contest with a power play marker. Casey Logeman gave the home team the lead again shorthanded. The opening 10 minutes the Northmen were on the power play for over 5 minutes. They outshot Whitby 13-5 but did not take advantage. They eventually struck with two quick shorthanded goals. A terrific rush by Brodie Merrill set up a two on one which Matt Marchildon finished. Then Brad MacDonald released Jamie Dowdall for a breakaway score. That was it for the Black Shirts in the first. In fact, Scott Wylie didn't make a single save the last half of the period. Two goals and one post were the results of Orangeville's three shots. Whitby came on so that the shots ended 16-16. Barrett Church tied the match on a powerplay.

Mike Morrison was switched to the point late in the first. His running the power play improved it dramatically. Bill Greer scored the next to put the Warriors up 4-3. Then Scott Campbell completed a fast break and it was 5-3. Two goals on two shots - Patterson was done for the night. Josh Agar replaced him and gave the Northmen a solid stretch to keep them in the game while their offence struggled. Another goal and the home side would surely have pulled away. Agar turned aside 7 shots to prevent that. Meanwhile Scott Wylie was brilliant. He denied Marchildon on a breakaway and later made four huge saves on a Hornhead's power play. In between, Marchildon did beat him, Orangeville's first goal in 22 minutes. Whitby did solve Agar twice, however both Mark Craig's and Bill Greer's goals were disallowed for crease violations. 5-4 Warriors, though the visitors outshot them 17-14 in the second.

4 minutes into the final period Chad Culp scored the Black Shirts first even strength goal of the night. Craig replied 3 minutes later to put Whitby up 6-5. Past the midway point the home team had a glorious opportunity to pull away. They enjoyed a 4 on 3 manadvantage for a full 2 minutes, which was immediately followed by another power play. Agar held his ground throughout it all. The second advantage was ended when the Warriors received a penalty for too many men on the floor. Orangeville scored at the end of this power play. Kyle Miller started it by winning possession. Jim Quinlan finished it and it was 6-6, 4 minutes from the end. The following stretch was all Northmen. While Whitby squandered three straight possessions with turnovers, the HornHeads managed a couple of shots on goal. Best opportunity went to Merrill but Wylie stoned him with a fabulous arm save. On Whitby's last possession they isolated Morrison one on one. Great defence forced a wide shot. Taylor grabbed the loose ball out by the blue line. Surrounded by players he shot blindly and scored. Period shots were level at 13. Game total favoured the visitors 46-43.

Unlike past encounters this game was cleanly played. Both teams stuck to lacrosse for 60 minutes. The problem started after the final buzzer had sounded. Chad Culp was knocked to the floor as the game ended. He responded by slashing Scott Stapleford in the legs. The pair exchanged a couple of more slashes then Vinnie Crawfod jumped on top of Culp. As the situation threatened to explode Scott Campbell went straight for Bryan Kazarian. For once Kazarian hadn't done anything, however he was a marked man for sidelining Stephen Hoar with a concussion thanks to a hit from behind in Game One. They mixed it up a bit but nothing dramatic came of it. In both pairings the Whitby players got a few punches in. Neither of the Northmen were fighters. To conclude festivities Miles MacDonald made a fool of himself. He tried desperately to fight the entire Whitby team but nothing came of it.

NOTES:
Orangeville was without Peter Veltman and Darren Halls(who I assume is injured). Hoar sat out again for Whitby as did Mike Hamilton. Missing such firepower the Warrior offence was centred around Mike Morrison and he did not disappoint. He only scored once but drew several penalties.

Regarding Game Two's troubles, Orangeville assistant John Campbell was thrown out because he went on the floor to complain to the referees that the Whitby players were throwing Northmen equipment into the stands(Nathan Sanderson ended up losing a stick). As for Lindsay Sanderson losing his cool and using ungentlemanly language, he was upset because Vinnie Crawford appeared on the floor with a wooden stick after using a plastic stick all night until then.

Brings back memories. During the '93 Quarter Final series between St.Catharines and Whitby a Warrior stick ended up on the A's bench. One of the players promptly broke it. The next game Jim Brady presented Whitby with a brand new stick, with a bow tied around it.

In the Semi Finals that same year Terry Sanderson lost his cool during a game at Ted Reeve. I didn't see what happened but one of the Beaches players apparently cheap shotted a Northman. Sanderson ranted at the Toronto bench and coach Neil Armstong for nearly a minute. Armstrong, like Jeff McComb last Friday, totally ignored him.