Merchants and Bengals Split Weekend Home and Home Series

Photo courtesy of Jay Saucier 

By Mark Stehlin

The Brooklin Merchants and Hamilton Bengals met for the first time in the 2026 campaign and it happened to be twice on the final weekend. The Merchants had amassed a record of 9-1 while the Bengals came into the weekend at 5-5. By the time the final buzzer sounded on Sunday night at the Dave Andreychuk Arena, each side had earned a win in their home rinks. 

The teams opened the weekend series on Saturday at Iroquois Park Sports Centre in Whitby. It was a dominant performance from Brooklin who defeated Hamilton by a final score of 14-6. They went on runs of three goals in the first period and five in the middle frame to take the all-important two points. A total of five players for the Merchants registered two-goal performances. Thomas Kiazyk took the win in net by turning away 31 of 37 shots that came his way as he registered a save % of .838. Robbie Baxter scored one goal to register his team-leading 18th of the season. 

The second game of the weekend was in Hamilton late Sunday afternoon. This time, the game started well for the Bengals while the Merchants had trouble finding their groove. The scoreboard showed a 6-1 lead for the Bengals after 20 minutes and the visitors could never quite recover. Baxter, with mere seconds on the clock and the Merchants on the power play, finally solved Sam Haines in the Hamilton net to register the lone goal for his team in that first period.

The second and third periods were much closer with identical scores of 2-2 in each frame to give the Bengals a 10-5 win which left them in fourth place. 

A 10-2 record for the Merchants saw them finish in second overall behind the Six Nations Rivermen also at 10-2 (one overtime loss). The teams split the season series. The next tie-break was head to head goals and that statistic went to the Rivermen who defeated the Merchants by five goals while the Merchants took their win by four goals. 

The Merchants and Rivermen receive a bye for the first round of the playoffs. Owen Sound (3rd) will face Collingwood (6th) and Hamilton (4th) will meet up with Ennismore (5th) in a best of three opening round. 

Ontario Series Lacrosse announced their awards late Sunday night. The Coaching Staff of the Year was awarded to the Merchants duo of Ryan Degerdon (head coach) and Mark Debrone (assistant coach). In addition, the Goaltenders of the Year award went to the Merchants trio of Ryan Schuetzkowski, Thomas Kiazyk and Ethan Harwood. They surrendered only 82 goals in 12 games played for a 6.8 goals per game average. Next best was Owen Sound at 91 goals allowed in 12 games for a 7.6 goals per game average. 

The Merchants will now wait to see who they will play in their OSL semi-final series.