Crucial Road Win for Merchants and Final Series is Now a Best of Three

By Mark Stehlin

Some say that lacrosse is a game of runs and that was certainly on display last night at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena.  The Brooklin Merchants traveled to the ILA trailing 1-0 to the Six Nations Rivermen, in this best of five Ontario Series Lacrosse final.  When the dust settled, the Merchants came out victorious with a 10-9 win to even this series. The Merchants went on a five goal unanswered run in the middle of the first period and were matched by the Rivermen who did the same with four consecutive to end the first and start the middle frame.

“This was a huge win for the club, we came out flying in the first period. I felt that the guys were on the gas the entire game. We welcomed Prouter (GM Gavin Prout) to the bench and he provided the offensive guys some motivation tonight,” said a jubilant head coach, Ryan Degerdon, after the game.

“We all agreed that game one was not Merchants lacrosse, so Mark (Debrone, assistant coach) and I spoke to the leadership group and told them the messaging had to come from them. The bench was more vocal and upbeat and that was great to see. We’ll need this same attitude in game three on Friday night,” added Degerdon.

The teams traded goals in the opening frame before the Merchants exploded for five straight to open a 6-1 gap with just over seven minutes on the board. Ontario Series Lacrosse MVP and Leading Scorer, Thunder Hill and Greg Elijah-Brown countered for the Rivermen at the tail end of the first and the visitors went to break leading 6-3.

It was Hill with two consecutive goals, both on the power play , who opened the scoring in the second and allowed the Rivermen to keep pace.  The teams traded goals before Hill notched his fifth of the contest with 1:34 on the clock to tie the game at 8-8. With the clock winding down, Landon Sinfield took a pass from Carter Page and buried it to restore the one goal lead for the Merchants. Score after forty minutes was 9-8 for the visitors with a big third period on tap.

The first two periods saw wild scoring runs. In contrast, the focus of the third frame shifted to defense and goaltending. It was Hill again, with his fifth of the game, who tied the game at 9-9. That goal marked the fourth power play goal for the Rivermen compared to three for the Merchants. Rookie Ryan Langille would be the hero on this night. He scored his 14th of the season with 5:30 on the clock and that was it for offense as the Merchants grabbed the 10-9 win to even this series at 1-1.

In the two regular season games and now two playoff off games between these sides, neither has been able to claim a home win. The Merchants will look to keep that streak going as they travel back to the ILA on Friday at 8 pm for game three, while the Rivermen will aim to buck that trend.