Brooklin Mauls Kodiaks in MSL Classic Opener

By Sam Laskaris

The kids are more than just alright. Featuring a roster including several of its selections from the past two league drafts, the Brooklin Lacrosse Club registered a convincing 14-7 victory over the Cobourg Kodiaks on Tuesday in its opening match of the Major Series Lacrosse Classic.

All games in the five-week tournament, which has five of the six MSL clubs participating, will be held at the Toronto Rock Athletic Centre in Oakville.

Jonathan Donville, who was the top pick over-all in the 2020 MSL Entry Draft, netted a hat trick in his first game in a Brooklin uniform. Donville had led the Orangeville Northmen to the 2019 Minto Cup, capturing the MVP award at the national Junior A tournament.

“I thought he played really well,” Brooklin head coach Brad MacArthur said of Donville’s outing. “I’ve always liked his game. It was nice to finally have him in our lineup.”

Recent draftees Jake Stevens and Corson Kealey also had impressive performances in their Brooklin debuts, scoring a pair of goals each. Stevens, a product of the Kitchener-Waterloo Braves’ Junior A squad, was selected in the first round, sixth over-all, in the 2021 MSL Entry Draft, held this past March. Kealey, who honed his skills with the Toronto Beaches Junior A club, was chosen in the third round, 13th over-all, in the 2020 draft.

Chris Boushy, whose MSL rights were acquired by Brooklin in 2019 via a trade with the Oakville Rock, also scored twice in Tuesday’s outing. Boushy had spent the 2019 campaign with the Western Lacrosse Association’s Victoria Shamrocks.

Jeff Wittig, chosen fifth over-all in the 2019 MSL draft, also netted a pair of goals for Brooklin.

Singles were provided by Adam Perroni, Nick Chaykowsky and Ryan Keenan, who served as Brooklin’s captain in Tuesday’s contest.

Meanwhile, Riley Hutchcraft, made 40 saves between the pipes for Brooklin and earned the W. “I thought Hutchy played fantastic in net,” MacArthur said.

MacArthur, who doubles as Brooklin’s general manager, had more than 40 players whose rights are owned by the organization, show interest in participating in this year’s league tournament.

The tourney was hastily put together last week, in response to the fact the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the MSL regular season schedule (and playoffs) for the second consecutive year.

MacArthur and his coaching staff are keen to see as many players as possible who are BLC property take part in the tourney.

“We tried to sprinkle the lineup with some veteran flavour, but we wanted to field a young prospect type roster for this first game,” MacArthur said of Tuesday night’s roster.

Almost an entirely different set of players are expected to take part in Brooklin’s next game on Wednesday, as it squares off against the Six Nations Chiefs. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.

Brooklin got off to a somewhat sluggish start in the opening quarter against Cobourg and trailed 2-1 after 15 minutes of action. Brooklin, however, outscored the Kodiaks 5-1 in the ensuing 15 minutes to take a 6-3 lead into the locker room at halftime. Brooklin then started to put the game out of reach in the third quarter, outscoring Cobourg 4-1 to take a seven-goal advantage (11-4) into the final minutes of action.

In Tuesday’s other contest in the MSL Classic, Oakville defeated Six Nations 12-9.  

Brooklin returns to action Wednesday evening facing Six Nations. Game time is 8pm. Limited tickets are available. Please contact Major Series Lacrosse to reserve yours.