Langille Nets Four in Season Debut

Photos courtesy of Jay Saucier Photography

By Mark Stehlin

The Brooklin Merchants hosted the Owen Sound NorthStars on a windy and rainy Sunday afternoon. By the time the final buzzer sounded the home side had maintained their perfect record of 7-0 by way of a 9-4 win. The team welcomed Ryan Langille for his season debut and the Whitby Warrior graduate didn’t disappoint as he scored four times.

“It felt awesome out there, the guys welcomed me with open arms and it’s a great locker room from what I can see so far,” said Langille.

“There are five guys out there with me, so all the credit to them. This team looks really good from what I have seen since I have been back, the future looks bright for this team,” added Langille.

Langille just completed his sophomore year at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). His Tigers men’s lacrosse team ranked # 10 made it to the NCAA finals and were defeated 11-7 to the # 1 ranked Tufts Jumbos. 

“We’ve got a great program down there, a lot of Canadian guys and just like here it is a great locker room,” said Langille of his school experience.

The game started slowly for both sides and the scored after one period was 1-1. Head coach Ryan Degerdon pulled starter Thomas Kiazyk with 20 seconds on the clock to try and spark the offense but to no avail and the teams went to break knotted at 1-1. 

The Merchants opened the gap in the first two minutes of the middle frame. It was veteran Adam Perroni with just a minute off the clock followed by Langille’s second of the game to stretch the lead to 3-1. The NorthStars did manage one that period to stay close. Langille netted two more before the buzzer to make it 5-2 after forty minutes. Langille’s third goal of the night showed his grit and skill. He had the ball in front of the net and took a shot that rebounded to the corner. He ran into a group of NorthStar defenders, came out with the loose ball and deposited it behind Owen Sound goaltender, Gavin Clarke. 

The NorthStars found themselves in some penalty trouble in the third period and the Merchants power play unit took advantage. Robbie Baxter, with the Merchants a man up, fired a rocket into the net to open the score to 7-2. Baxter leads the Merchants in scoring with 13 on the season. The visitors found some life and scored twice in the middle of the period to crawl a little closer. Baxter responded just a dozen seconds later to maintain the lead and the final score of 9-4 in favour of the Merchants leaves them with a league-leading record of 7-0.

Scoring – Langille (4,1), Oldman (0,3) O Wills (0,1) Christy (0,2) Baxter (2,2) Ferrede (0,1) Perroni (1,0) Tucker (1,0) McPherson (1,0) Tapper (0,1) Miller (0,3) Dalton (0,1)

Next up for the Merchants, they host the Six Nations Rivermen on Saturday June 27 at 4 p.m. This is the first half of a double-header for Scott McMichael Minor Lacrosse Night in Whitby as the Brooklin Lacrosse Club will host the Six Nations Chiefs at 8 p.m.