The Peterborough Timbermen’s brief hopes for a long playoff run were dashed this past Saturday, March 31st, as they were knocked out of the Arena Lacrosse League quarter finals in a 15-11 loss to the Paris RiverWolves.
“The outcome was not what we anticipated,” a disappointed Joe Sullivan said. “Although we won the season series with Paris they proved too much to handle and played a consistent game in wearing down our D and shutting down our offence.”
Despite holding a 2-0 advantage over the RiverWolves in the regular season, the seventh-place Timbermen found themselves matched up with a deceptively strong and talented second-place team. Only six points separated the two teams in the final regular season standings.
“It was a tight league with anyone being able to win on any given night which makes for good lacrosse,” Sullivan said.
The Timbermen jumped ahead 3-1 on a shorthanded marker from Nick Karam just over five minutes into the first quarter but Paris fought back with four in a row to take a 5-3 lead after the first 15 minutes.
Chris Attwood scored a pair in the second, but Paris kept pace with two goals of their own for a 7-5 lead at halftime.
Paris took a 9-5 lead in the third before Chris Attwood was awarded, and scored on, a penalty shot. Thirty-one seconds later his fourth goal of the game brought the Timbermen back to 9-7. Each team scored twice more in the frame, with the Timbermen keeping pace, down 11-9.
The fourth quarter saw the RiverWolves score four straight, including three in a span of one minute and 14 seconds, to lead by six. Unfortunately, Peterborough managed only two goals late to cut the deficit.
“Their best players outshone ours and you could see that their chemistry was the deciding factor,” Sullivan said.
Bryden Curren scored six times and added one assist for the RiverWolves, who also got a 10-point effort (3G/7A) from captain Mike Burke. Nolan Clayton played well in goal.
Timbermen goaltender Brett Perras, who led the ALL’s regular season with an 11.00 GAA, was also disappointed.
“We gave it our all,” he said. “We obviously wanted a different result but lacrosse is lacrosse. Sometimes the ball doesn’t go your way. We had some bad bounces.”
The Timbermen finished the regular season in last place but improved on their 2017 record of 3-11 with a 5-9 record that included three one-goal losses.
In other ALL action, the Whitby Steelhawks defeated the Six Nations Snipers 16-14 while the defending champion Oshawa Outlaws fell 16-12 to the St. Catharines ShockWave.
The RiverWolves will face the ShockWave at 4 p.m. this coming Saturday in the first semi-final while the first-place Toronto Monarchs host the Steelhawks at 7 p.m. The championship game will be held on Sunday at 2 p.m. All of this weekend’s games will take place at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville, Ont.
Scoring for the Timbermen:
Chris Attwood (4-0)
Joel Matthews (3-0)
Nick Karam (2-0)
Mark Vradenburg (1-3)
Rylee McKinnon (1-1)
Shane Francis (0-2)
Dan Michel (0-2)
Fred Hartley (0-2)
Zack Thompson (0-1)
Riley Campbell (0-1)
