Rutty, Maracle Lead Belleville to Gritty Road Victory

By Gary Groob 

The Belleville Kodiaks (3-7) traveled west to face the Collingwood Cruise (2-8) in Ontario Series Lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at the Eddie Bush Arena in Collingwood, Ontario. 

The goaltending match-up had Gavin Williamson in net for Belleville facing Dante Mancini in net for the Cruise. 

The Belleville Kodiaks overcame an early two-goal deficit and delivered a resilient road performance to edge the Collingwood Cruise 5-4 on Saturday afternoon at Eddie Bush Arena. After trailing 2-1 following the opening period, the Kodiaks stormed back with three unanswered goals in the second, fueled by a hat trick from Nolan Rutty and a key marker from Seven Gillingham. Although Collingwood answered late in the frame to knot the game at 4-4, Belleville refused to let the momentum slip away.

The third period turned into a defensive battle, with both goaltenders coming up with timely saves before Blake Maracle broke the deadlock just over four minutes into the frame. His eventual game-winning goal proved to be the difference as Belleville withstood a late push from the Cruise to earn an important 5-4 victory. Gavin Williamson made the saves he needed down the stretch, helping the Kodiaks secure the road win despite Collingwood holding a narrow 48-45 edge in shots.

To The Game:

Collingwood got moving early with Brenden McLeod converting a Braeden Lockyer-Fagan pass at 2:28, followed by a shorthanded marker by Hayden Goldthorp in transition off a Chris Harland feed at 9:49.
Nolan Rutty got Belleville on the board on the power-play with an outside blast off a Cam Milligan pass at 19:21.

After one period, Collingwood 2 Belleville 1.
Shots on goal were tied 17-17.

Second Period:

Belleville tied the game early on with Seven Gillingham scoring unassisted just 1:45 into the frame, followed by Nolan Rutty with a blast off a Nick Bafia pass at 2:55.  Rutty then scored from in close off a Tim Zdimal feed at 6:51.

Josh Sanchez would put the Cruise on his back with a pair of late goals.  The first was Sanchez converting a Chase Forsythe feed to the top corner at 8:04, followed by a sidearm snipe to the corner off a Graham Bergsma pass at 18:56.

After two periods, Collingwood 4 Belleville 4.
Shots on goal favored the Cruise 18-15.
Third Period:

In a much more defensive period, Belleville got the only goal.  Blake Maracle converted a Caden Dewitt feed at 4:19, which turned out to be the game winning goal. 

Final score, Belleville 5 Collingwood 4.
Shots on goal were tied 13-13 for a game total of 48-45 in favor of the Cruise. 

The Three Stars:

1. Gavin Williamson 
2. Dante Mancini 
3. Nolan Rutty