Offensive Depth Powers Six Nations Past Bengals

By Gary Groob 

The Six Nations Rivermen (8-1) traveled to face the Hamilton Bengals (3-5) in Ontario Series Lacrosse action Friday night at the Dave Andreychuk Arena in Hamilton, Ontario. 

The goaltending match-up had Cam Dunkerley in net for the Rivermen facing Aden Walsh in net for the Bengals. 

The Six Nations Rivermen continued to show why they sit near the top of the Ontario Series Lacrosse standings, using a dominant start in the first period, and timely scoring throughout the night to earn another impressive road victory over the Hamilton Bengals. After racing out to a four-goal lead, the Rivermen withstood Hamilton's pushback and consistently answered every Bengals surge with key goals of their own. Their balanced offense, transition game, and steady goaltending proved to be the difference as they controlled the pace for much of the contest.

Hamilton showed plenty of resilience, battling back after a difficult start, creating quality offensive chances.  Despite strong individual performances and flashes of momentum, the Bengals were unable to slow Six Nations' relentless attack. The victory keeps the Rivermen rolling near the top of the standings, while Hamilton will look to regroup as the playoff race continues to tighten.

To The Game:

Six Nations came out of the gate on fire scoring four unanswered goals in the first half of the first period.  Thunder Hill opened the scoring converting a Marshall Powless feed at 54 seconds, followed by David Anderson with a blast off a turnover at 2:45.

Tyler Brown then added back to back markers.  The first was a quick stick off a "thread the needle" pass from David Anderson at 3:32, followed by a high to low bounced shot off a Jackson Webster pass at 8:25.

Hamilton finally got going with Zach Terry scoring on the power-play off a Tye Argent pass at 9:43, followed by Argent himself finishing a Jaden Patterson feed at 13:43 to cut the lead in half.

The Rivermen increased their lead with a sidearm snipe from Jackson Webster off a Thunder Hill pass at 15:29, but Jaden Patterson responded with a blast off a Pent Eistrat feed 26 seconds later.

Nolan Marshall then brought the Bengals within one goal with a low to low laser off a Brendan Campbell pass at 16:19, followed by a Zach Terry in transition off a long lead pass from Aden Walsh with just 8 seconds remaining in the period. 

After one period, Hamilton 5 Six Nations 5.
Shots on goal favored Six Nations 16-13.

Second Period:

Hamilton took their first lead of the game with Jaden Patterson converting a Tye Argent pass at 3:31, but Tye Logan would respond with an outside blast off a Jonathan Gagliardi pass at 4:11 to knot the game once again.

David Anderson gave the Rivermen the lead once again off the faceoff 5 seconds later, but Nolan Marshall would answer in transition off a Ben Wittich feed at 5:31 to again tie the game. 

Six Nations took over with Jackson Webster scoring his second of the game off a Tyler Brown pass at 7:49, followed by Thunder Hill with a low to high laser from in close off a Mitch VanEvery pass at 10:30.  

Tyler Brown then added a tally on the power-play off a Jackson Webster feed from the side of the net at 13:24, followed by David Anderson's second of the game off a Tyler Brown pass at 16:12.  

Marshall Powless would continue the onslaught on the power-play with a low laser from the outside off a Jackson Webster feed to open a five goal Rivermen lead.

The Bengals finally stopped the run when Nile Cyr scored in transition going coast to coast off an Aden Walsh pass at 18:29.

After two periods, Six Nations 12 Hamilton 8.
Shots on goal favored the Rivermen 25-14.

Third Period:

The Hamilton Bengals opened the third period scoring with Nolan Marshall's third of the game converting a Trevor McDonald pass at 52 seconds, but Jackson Webster's third of the game off a David Peterkin feed kept the Rivermen in control at 1:56.

Zach Terry scored with a low blast off an Eddie Renaud pass at 7:21, but Jackson Webster's fourth of the game again stymied the Bengals momentum with an outside rope off a Mitch VanEvery pass at 8:36.

Eddie Renaud kept the Bengals battling with an outside shot off a Jaden Patterson feed at 9:17, but Mitch VanEvery again had the response for Six Nations with a shot from the outside unassisted at 10:12.  

Brooker Muir then added insurance with an unassisted tally at 11:44, followed by David Peterkin with a sidearm snipe off a David Anderson pass at 12:21.

Nolan Marshall continued his big night for the Bengals with his fourth of the game off a Jaden Patterson pass at 13:35, but David Anderson would respond with his third of the game at 15:29.

Tye Argent kept Hamilton battling scoring in transition off a Ben Wittich pass at 16:14, but Jackson Webster's fifth of the game would be the final exclamation point of this game at 17:48.

Final score, Six Nations 19 Hamilton 13.
Shots on goal favored the Rivermen 21-9, for a game total of 62-45 in favor of Six Nations. 

The Three Stars:

1. Jackson Webster 
2. David Anderson 
3. Nolan Marshall