Brooklin season concludes with overtime loss against Lakers
By Sam Laskaris
It was a valiant effort.
But in the end the Brooklin Lacrosse Club was simply unable to find a way to beat the Peterborough Lakers.
But boy did it try. The Brooklin squad took the four-time defending national Mann Cup champions to overtime on Tuesday in a Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) playoff match held at the Iroquois Park Sports Centre in Whitby.
The Lakers ended up prevailing, however, in the extra session, eking out a 12-11 victory. With that win Peterborough swept its best-of-seven MSL semi-final series against Brooklin in the minimum four matches.
“I can’t be more proud of the men tonight,” said Brooklin head coach Jason Crosbie. “It was probably the best game of the series. They really showed their character and it showed what kind of individuals they are.”
For the first time in the series Brooklin did not allow Peterborough to get off to a quick start on Tuesday.
In fact, it was the host Brooklin side which enjoyed a 4-1 advantage after the opening 20 minutes.
The Lakers came storming back in the middle frame though, outscoring Brooklin 8-4 in the process, to hold a slim 9-8 edge going into the third period.
The two squads were then deadlocked at 11-11 at the end of the third, forcing a sudden-victory extra session.
Peterborough’s Holden Cattoni was the OT hero, scoring at the 2:30 mark of the additional frame and putting a wrap on Brooklin’s 2023 campaign.
“All in all it was a fantastic game,” Crosbie said. “And a fantastic game to coach. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the horses. We just reload and come back next year with a good determination to go after it again.”
Tanner Cook led the Brooklin offence by scoring four goals and adding a pair of assists.
Connor Kearnan also had a six-point night for Brooklin. All of his half dozen points were via assists.
Kyle Waters and Jake Stevens added two goals each for Brooklin. Jacob Saunders, Liam Osborne and Lucas Littlejohn also scored for Brooklin.
The Lakers are now waiting to find out their opponent in the MSL championship series.
The Six Nations Chiefs are currently up 3-1 in their best-of-seven semi-final series with the Cobourg Kodiaks.
Six Nations handily won Game 4 in the series, 14-6, on Tuesday to put a stranglehold on its matchup with the Kodiaks