Merchants Victorious with an Impressive Road Effort

By Mark Stehlin

The Brooklin Merchants took their show on the road tonight to battle the Hamilton Sr B Bengals, a team playing in their inaugural season in the Ontario Series Lacrosse loop. The Merchants came into the game with a record of 1-1 after a home and home last weekend vs. the Six Nations Rivermen where each team won in their home barn.

Tonight, the Merchants were able to win each period by scores of 5-3, 4-3 and 4-2. The final on the night was 13-8 for Brooklin to improve their record to 2-1 and keeping Hamilton at .500 at 2-2.

When reached after the game, head coach Ryan Degerdon said he “was pleased with the effort and felt good” about the state of the team at this early stage of the season.

He added he continues to stress “the importance of effort and floor awareness with and without the ball.”

His message in the second intermission was to remind his team of the importance of “ensuring they maintained the lead and not give the opponent a chance to make their way back into the game.”  He was happy with the solid work ethic and he also wants to set good habits  such as “playing a team game with high IQ plays and most importantly establishing a winning attitude.”

The Merchants welcomed Deacon Knott into the net tonight.  Degerdon said that Knott is a recent arrival and he was told at last week’s practice that he would suit up tonight. Degerdon is happy with the three goalies on the roster; joining Knott are Ryan Schuetzkowski and Lukas Coote.

Scoring for the Merchants tonight were Ed Renaud, Christian Watts, Parker Pipher, Kellen Pulera, Darren Elliot with two each and singles to Tyler Goodchild, Alexis Simard and Robert Morgan.

The Merchants are in Ennismore on Tuesday and return home on Friday May 17, 2024 at 8:00 p.m. and host Owen Sound at the Luther Vipond Memorial Arena.