Merchants Turn It On In The Third Sailing To Victory

Written by Gary Groob  - All Lacrosse All The Time 

The Brooklin Merchants (11-2) traveled east to meet the Ennismore James Gang (1-12-1) at the Lakefield Smith Arena in Ontario Series Lacrosse action Thursday night. 

The Merchants have had an excellent season so far and were looking to keep it rolling.  Led by Eddie Renaud (20g,3qa), Devon Pipher (20g 30a), Christian Watts (19g,30a) and Parker Pipher (16g,24a) Brooklin has been explosive this season.

The Ennismore James Gang is young, but getting their experience throughout the season.  Led by Carter Page (12g,15a), Adam Churchill (13g,11a), and Holden Lowes (13g,5a) Ennismore has Improved every game this season.

The goaltending match-up had Deacan Knott in net for Brooklin facing Andrew Kidd in net for Ennismore. 

A very evenly played game for two periods had the James Gang up 6-5 at the break.  The third started with a pair of power-play goals for the Merchants which changed the momentum of the game.  Brooklin continued to pour it on scoring six unanswered goals to start the period, taking an 11-6 lead.  The teams traded a couple of goals in the latter stages of the game, but Brooklin kept control en route to a 13-8 victory.

To The Game:

The Merchants opened the scoring with Devon Pipher blasting a Darren Elliott pass at 5:18, but an unassisted goal from Nate Allan and an outside shot from Aaron Bradshaw had Ennismore up 2-1 at the 7:11 mark.

Devon Pipher got his second of the game with a low to low screen shot, but Brandon Johnson gave the James Gang the lead heading to the break.

After one period, Ennismore 3 Brooklin 2.

Shots on goal favored Brooklin 15-13.

Second Period:

The Merchants tied the game early in the second when Tyler Goodchild converted a Parker Pipher pass at 1:10, but Taylor Dooley's blast to the shortside off a Brandon Johnson pass on the power-play at 4:20 restored the Ennismore lead.

Adam Perroni tied the game once more on the power-play off a Devon Pipher pass at 5:08, followed by Eddie Renaud also scoring on the power-play, finishing a Devon Pipher feed at 13:49 to give Brooklin the lead.

The James Gang finished the period strong.  Jenson Walker with a terrific individual effort tied the game unassisted at 14:35, followed by Avery Cook finishing an Adam Churchill pass at 19:09 for the lead.

After two periods, Ennismore 6 Brooklin 5.

Shots on goal were tied 17-17.

Third Period:

Brooklin came out with a different swagger in this period, quickly capitalizing on James Gang penalty problems.  Eddie Renaud scored his second of the game off a Devon Pipher pass at 1:04, followed by Pipher himself capitalizing on a nice feed from Renaud at 4:32.

The barrage continued with Parker Pipher adding a pair of goals 0:51 seconds apart, followed by Sean Molloy and Darren Elliott scoring just 0:27 seconds apart from each other for an 11-6 Merchants lead at 9:07.

The James Gang stopped the six goal run with DJ Crough finding the corner on a sidearm snipe off a Taylor Dooley pass at 9:37, but Eddie Renaud's third of the game off a Ciaron Costello pass stopped the Ennismore energy.

The teams traded goals once more late in the period with Aaron Bradshaw scoring for Ennismore, but Adam Perroni answered for Brooklin with just 1:23 remaining. 

Final score, Brooklin 13 Ennismore 8.

Shots on goal favored the Merchants 28-11, for a game total of 60-41 in favor of Brooklin. 

The Three Stars:

1. Devon Pipher 
2. Eddie Renaud 
3. Parker Pipher