Night of Celebration Capped off with Redmen Win at IPSC

The Brooklin Redmen treated their fans to a night of celebration as the Cobourg Kodiaks invaded IPSC. The team welcomed local Whitby-Oshawa MPP Lorne Coe and special guest Walter Gretzky, father of the Great One, was on hand to perform the ceremonial face-off with captains and players from both teams joining him on the floor. The team also celebrated the 50th anniversary of their 1968 Mann Cup winning team (first of seven) at the end of the first intermission with a number of players and executive in attendance. 

The teams did play a back and forth contest with each side going on runs through the game. The Redmen, on the back of a six goal performance in the final frame, were able to keep the Kodiaks at bay with a 14-12 win to improve to 3-0 on the season and drop the Kodiaks to 0-3-1. Cobourg will have another shot at the Redmen on Father's Day when they host them with a 6 pm start.  Former Redmen player Darryl Gibson made his return to Iroquois Park tonight as he took his spot as a coach on the Kodiaks bench. 

The home side opened the scoring with two goals before the visitors were able to find the back of the net. The Kodiaks did rattle off five unanswered in the first period (three in 1:13) for a 6-4 lead after the opening 20 minutes. 

The visitors extended the lead to 7-4 to start the middle frame but a relatively low scoring period resulted in the clock showing an 8-8 tie going into the third.  Dan Lintner carried on from his opening game five goal performance last week and had three by the end of the second with his third coming with one second on the clock. Chris Corbeil added a short handed marker that frame for the home side.

The Redmen restored their lead for the first time since 6:38 of the first period as Ryan Keenan and Mark Matthews opened the scoring with a pair just two minutes into the third period. The Redmen had a little more jump in the final frame that resulted in a brilliant goal from Ryan MacSpadyen who capitalized on a pretty three way passing play from Curtis Knight and Keenan.  Redmen first pick overall, Holden Garlent, showed off his stick skills as he ran down the floor on the penalty box side and snagged a loose ball that caromed off the glass and two walls only to make its way back into play on the referees whistle.  

Goal scorers for the Redmen were Keenan and Lintner with four each, singles to Corbeil, Matthews, MacSpadyen, Matt Spanger, Curtis Knight and Connor Kearnan. 

The Redmen are in Peterborough tomorrow night with an 8 pm game vs the Lakers, they travel to Cobourg Sunday and come back to IPSC on Wednesday June 20 for the annual Scott McMichael Minor Lacrosse Night as the Six Nations Chiefs come to town.