North Stars Special Teams The Difference In Victory

Written by Gary Groob - All Lacrosse All The Time

The Owen Sound North Stars (2-0) visited the Clearview Crushers (1-3) in Ontario Series Lacrosse action Saturday night at the Meaford & St. Vincent Community Centre

Coming off a stellar performance in their opening game of the season, the North Stars were looking good to continue their well rounded attack. While Clearview had one lopsided loss to Six Nations, good showings with Hamilton have definitely given them optimism for the season.

The goaltending match-up had Kaleb Martin in net for Owen Sound facing Jackson Brown in net for Clearview.

The Owen Sound North Stars led wire to wire in this game. Getting off to a quick 2-0 lead the North Stars had Clearview chasing them all evening. 7-3 after one, Owen Sound showed their balanced attack with seven different scorers. As the game wore on Clearview settled down, matching Owen Sound goal for goal the rest of the game. However, the original hole was too big, with the North Stars leaving with a 14-9 victory.

Jordan Caskenette (3g,1a), Evan Brake (2g,5a) and Jake McNabb (2g,3a) led the way for Owen Sound. Angus Rawding (2g,1a), Adam Hawrelak (2g,0a) and Luca Romano (2g,0a) led the way for the Crushers.

To The Game:

The North Stars got off to a quick start with Mitch Gustavsen finishing a Jake McNabb pass at 1:18, followed by McNabb himself adding to the lead with blast off a Gordie Power feed at 2:09.

Josh Gilray cut the lead in half beating Kaleb Martin to the corner off a Graham Bergsma pass at 3:18, but the Owen Sound erupted for four more goals soon after. Rob Kloepfer converted a Riley Thompson pass at 3:37. Jordan Caskenette with his second of the night off an Evan Brake pass at 4:57, followed by Riley Thompson increasing the lead also off an Evan Brake pass just 0:50 seconds later. Hayden Summers-Thompson, while shorthanded, then added an unassisted goal in transition at 7:11.

The Crushers finally got back on the board with Adam Hawrelak sandwiching a Wyatt Barfoot goal with a pair of his own to end the period.

After one period, Owen Sound 7 Clearview 3.

Second Period:

The Crushers came out more organized in the second taking control of the early stages of the period. Goals by Nile Cyr at 2:43, and Braydon Hickey at 3:58 brought the game within two goals.

Jordan Caskenette scored on the the power-play off an Evan Brake pass at 7:39, but Luca Romano answered unassisted for Clearviewat 8:48.

Owen Sound got rolling again when Jake McNabb scored his second of the night off an Evan Brake pass on the power-play at 9:31, followed by Rob Kloepfer blasting a Hayden Summers-Thompson feed shorthanded at 13:12.

After two periods, Owen Sound 10 Clearview 6.

Third Period:

Special teams continued to play a big part in this game.

Jordan Caskenette scored his third goal of the game on the power-play at 1:25, followed by Gordie Power wiring a Jake McNabb pass past Jackson Brown at 2:41.

Angus Rawding scored a pair for Clearview. The first was off a Braydon Hickey feed at 4:11, followed by a power-play goal off a Graham Bergsma pass at 8:50.

Evan Brake answered back for the Stars with a quick pair of goals himself. The first was in transition unassisted at 10:06, followed by converting an Owen Dale pass 0:37 seconds later.

Luca Romano scored once more for Clearview on a great individual effort unassisted at 13:47, but it wasn't enough on this evening.

Final score, Owen Sound 14 Clearview 9.

The Three Stars:

1. Jordan Caskenette
2. Evan Brake
3. Graham Bergsma