SCARBOROUGH - The Orangeville Northmen are heading to the Minto Cup. From the celebrations seen at the end of tonight's game you'd think they had just won the Canadian championship, rather than a Semi Final series. One step at a time I suppose. On this evening the O'ville defence stomped upon the Beaches offence and squashed their championship aspirations with an 8-6 victory to take the series 4-2.
It was a rough defensive battle from the start. Liberal use of the tupperware on both sides as each team tried to slash and hack its way to victory. In the end the visitors gutted out a narrow win. It was never pretty.
The Beach Boys played physical lacrosse the opening period and it was very effective against the smaller Northmen. Orangeville's offence amounted to next to nothing the first 20 minutes. Turnovers, low percentage outside shots or expired shot clocks characterised their efforts - with one brief exception. Midway through the session Toronto was hit with three quick penalties. The first two were off the ball fouls, while the third went to assistant coach Matt McLean. Orangeville turned the opportunity into three goals.
The home team's offence was not much better. They did look a bit creative after their first goal, when they had some momentum. The rest of the time their offence was as ineffective as the black shirts. They got their own break on the game's first goal. A loose ball bounced off the end boards in front of the goal. Bobby McBride followed the ball from behind the net, cut through the crease and recovered it. It should have been Orangeville possession on the crease violation however the referees missed it. Eventually, on the same possession, Tom Montour beat Josh Agar, Toronto also scored late as the period ended with the Northmen up 3-2.
There was a jump in the visitors' step the second period. They struck early when they created a three on two break off a line change. Chad Culp scored to make it 4-2. John McLellan was tested a few times later and equal to the task. The Beaches best chances came on breakaways from defensive stars Jonathan Durno and J.D. Smithson. Josh Agar denied both. Halfway through there was an interesting call against Durno. He laid a slash on Chad Culp's upper arm and Brent McCauley called him for it. Technically it was the correct call, however McCauley is likely the only referee enforcing this new rule in the playoffs. A bitter pill for Toronto to swallow considering that early in the third period Culp slashed Durno in the legs twice with no penalty call.
Thus the Beach Boys were in danger of falling behind by three. That would have been too tough a deficit to overcome. Toronto's penalty killing stepped it up to keep them in the game. Even better, Bobby McBride scored shorthanded. That looked like it could be the goal to save Beaches season. Right after it they had their own power play and a chance to tie it. Agar turned aside five shots, a couple in close, to stem Toronto's momentum. The period ended with a beautiful goal from Peter Veltman. Trying to muscle his way inside he suddenly surprised McLellan with a backhanded shot into the bottom left corner. 5-3 Orangrville with 20 minutes to go.
The opening part of the third period was as tense as it was scoreless. Toronto's offence came out very cold and took 3 minutes to register its first shot on goal. The Beach Boys did finally score on their lone power play of the period - a lovely set up which Matt Holman buried. Meanwhile the Northmen had three advantages but could not put the game out of reach. In contrast, McBride shocked them by beating two defenders to score his second shorthanded goal of the contest. That tied it 5-5.
With 3 1/2 minutes left, came the oddest sequence of penalty calls Gary Martin will ever make. On the play, Darren Halls rode Bobby McBride into the boards behind the Orangeville goal. McBride shoved him right back then dumped the Northman into the back of the net. It was a borderline penalty call but given the close game should never have led to a power play. Martin agreed and made no call. Halls expressed his displeasure at that decision and the referee gave him an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Beaches power play right? Wrong. Martin then sprinted to the Beaches bench and called McBride for roughing to even it up. Weird to see the roughing penalty called after, not before. It would have been simplier to have not called anything.
That gave the Northmen possession in a four on four situation. Peter Veltman simply marched up the floor, beat his man one on one and scored another beauty. With a minute left in the game Halls was knocked down at centre yet retained possession even with two Toronto players all over him. He got the ball to Darryl Veltman who fed Chad Culp and it was 7-5. There was no quit in the Beaches. Matt Holman scored with 39 seconds remaining then Jonathan Durno won the loose ball off the following draw. Toronto's final possession faltered as Tom Montour attempted a quick shot which failed miserably. In the dying second Orangeville scored into the open net. 8-6 final.
Some complaints that Toronto was cheated by the officials in this one. I would not go as far as that. I think it would be more accurate to say the Beaches got no breaks from the referees. The game was still up for grabs and could have been theirs. Both teams may have deserved to win with their efforts and the hardnosed play of their defences, however, to be frank, from a skill standpoint this was an extremely poor contest and both clubs could have won it simply by handling the ball better. Perhaps, in 2003, it is unrealistic of me to expect all Jr.A players to have mastered basic stickhandling skills. My mistake.