BROOKLIN DOUBLES VISITING COBOURG KODIAKS TO REACH .500 MARK

By Sam Laskaris

Yes the Brooklin Lacrosse Club managed to pick up two points on Wednesday.

And yes, the squad doubled the visiting Cobourg Kodiaks 10-5 to even its Major Series Lacrosse record at 4-4-1.

But Jason Crosbie, the head coach of the Brooklin club, was not exactly in a celebratory mood following the contest held at the Iroquois Park Sports Centre in Whitby.

Brooklin was able to emerge victorious primarily because it outscored the Kodiaks 6-1 in the middle frame.

Crosbie’s charges had a somewhat sluggish start and only found themselves leading 3-2 heading into the first intermission because of a couple of late goals in the opening period. And Brooklin only managed to score once in the final 20 minutes while the Kodiaks scored a pair.

“That’s not how you finish teams,” Crosbie said. “It’s hard not to be happy. I am happy. We got the win but how we got the win I think we can be better. There’s lot of parts of our game that can be better.”

Though it was a scorcher inside and outside the Whitby arena, Wednesday’s outing was one of the rare times this season the Brooklin team did not display intensity for a good chunk of a game.

“We only played the second period,” Crosbie said. “I didn’t like the pace and I didn’t like the energy. There’s a lot of growth that needs to happen to play the game. We’re skilled. We’re super skilled. But the situational play of where and how and all that still has a lot of work to do.”

- photo Sam Laskaris -

Rookie Dyson Williams paced the Brooklin offence netting a hat trick. His third of the night, early in the third period, was an absolute beaut.

After receiving a pass from teammate Ryan Lanchbury who was behind the Cobourg net, Williams whipped a behind-the-back shot behind Kodiaks’ netminder Steve Orleman.

Williams’ celly on that goal, which gave his side a 10-3 advantage, was rather tame but did get a couple of chuckles from his teammates on the bench.

“It’s just one of those plays where it’s an absolute grind to the game, end of the shot clock and anything can happen,” Williams said. “You throw up a shot and might end up hitting one. It’s one of those fun ones that you smile about it.”

Williams added he was a bit surprised the Brooklin squad lacked its usual energy and intensity for long stretches in the game.

“It’s something that we just have to make sure we work towards, playing more of that complete game that we’ve been doing all season,” Williams said. “I thought we were doing a great job all season, kind of grinding that 60 minutes.”

Williams also praised the efforts of Brooklin netminder Riley Hutchcraft.

“Lucky enough we had Hutch in net and he stood on his head and he was able to keep the score kind of spread out,” he said.

Payton Cormier, who added a pair of goals for Brooklin, also realizes his side did not bring it’s A game on Wednesday.

“Like coach said, a win is a win and you get the two points but we know we didn’t play a complete game there,” Cormier said. “We had a lot left in the tank and everybody sort of agrees with that.”

Cormier added his teammates realize they can’t afford to have similar experiences like Wednesday and continue to have success.

“If you want to go far in this league you have to string together three good periods and today we had one good period between the offence and the defence but we won,” he said. “But we know we have to be better.”

Since he was on the floor at the same time, Cormier had a close view of Williams’ behind-the-back goal.

“Dyson is really skilled,” he said. “He makes some difficult shots look really easy and makes some easy shots look a little difficult but I think that’s just one of those things he’s practiced before.”

Lanchbury had a game-high eight points courtesy of his two goals and six assists.

Zach Sunderland also scored twice for Brooklin while Ryan Barnable had the team’s other goal.

Brooklin’s next game will also be against the Kodiaks on Sunday but this time in Cobourg.

That match, which will be at the Cobourg Community Centre, has an opening faceoff scheduled for 6 p.m.