Dominant Victory by Merchants Opens Gap for Top Spot

By Mark Stehlin

The Brooklin Merchants 25th anniversary season continues to be a glowing success. Other than a loss at the start of the season and one last week to the Six Nations Rivermen they now have an incredible 10-2 record with four regular season home games remaining. The run for first overall is within sight as they register each passing win. Last night they hosted the Ennismore James Gang in a Friday night showdown. The Merchants line-up featured a couple of recent additions in Braedon Saris (five goals) and Alex Marinier (four goals) and both provided an immediate dividend in a punishing 16-1 win over the James Gang.

The first and third periods were both shut outs in favour of the homeside, 4-0 and 8-0 respectively. It was in the middle frame that the James Gang robbed Merchants starter Deacan Knott with a chance at rare a shutout. In that period, the Merchants ran out to an 8-0 lead before Nick DiLauro scored his 16th of the season for the James Gang in the final five minutes.

“It’s going to be an exciting run to the end of the regular season, with this 25-man roster I can’t wait to see how these guys gel and play together,” said head coach Ryan Degerdon.

“There were some tough decisions to make with the roster that we now have for the push to the end, playoffs and Presidents Cup. I spoke to the guys who didn’t survive the cut and told them that is about all 40 or so guys who have been in and out of the line-up and their value to the club. This is the culture that we have as an overall organization,” added Degerdon.

“As for last night’s game, it was good overall but Mark (Debrone) and I still see things that need correcting out there. We expect these guys to work on the pieces we talk about and keep pushing each and every game,” said Degerdon.

Fans of the 2023 Minto Cup champion Burlington Blaze will see many familiar names that are now part of the Brooklin organization. In addition to Saris and Marinier, it now includes Will MacLeod, Alexis Simard, Deacan Knott, Nicholas Volkov and Owen Wills (Brooklin Lacrosse Club).

Scoring – MacLeod (3,4) Morgan (1,1) Volkov (0,2) MacPherson (0,1) Osborne (0,1) Handsor (0,1) Hickey (0,1) Renaud (0,1) D Pipher (3,2) Elliott (0,4) Tucker (0,5) Saris (5,2) Marinier (4,2)

Next up Sunday July 6 at 4 pm when the Merchants host the Collingwood Cruise.