Playoff Push Continues as Brooklin Takes Win at Home

By Mark Stehlin

The message all week around the Brooklin Lacrosse League (BLC) locker room has been simple, each of the last three regular season games are must-win situations. With the 10-9 win last night over the Brampton Excelsiors, the message remains the same, win out for a chance of post-season play.

The club held an opening ceremony to honour their general manager, Gavin Prout. He was recently inducted into the National Lacrosse League (NLL) Hall of Fame in the Veterans Category. He was the first overall draft pick in the 2001 NLL draft. In 2006, he was named NLL Finals MVP as his Colorado Mammoth team were crowned champions.

BLC entered the game with a 7-8 record and outside of play-off contention. By the time the final buzzer sounded, they were back to .500 and two points ahead of the Peterborough Lakers for the fourth and final playoff spot. The Lakers have two games in hand. Those games include a pivotal one tonight against the Cobourg Kodiaks, who at 9-7, are two points ahead of BLC with 16 points and in third place. BLC fans will have their eyes on the score of that contest at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.

“Tonight’s game was obviously a close one. I thought we did some things really well and we had some lulls. We also took some penalties that they capitalized on. We are fighting for our playoff lives and we need to be better in these last two games. We wanted to grab some momentum in the third period with some runs and stretch the lead but that didn’t happen tonight,” said Joel Johnson, head coach after the game.

Last night’s contest started in the best possible way as Dyson Williams notched a goal with only 24 seconds off the clock. The visitors went on to score the next two for a short-lived lead before Dylan Watson drilled one behind former BLC netminder Riley Hutchcraft to knot the game at 2-2. Will MacLeod and Reilly O’Connor, with his first of two on the night, opened the lead. With the clock winding towards the first break it looked good for BLC. Thomas McConvey had other ideas as he put one past BLC starter Aden Walsh with one second remaining and BLC took a 4-3 lead to break.

The middle frame was quiet on the scoring front. Each side managed only one goal to give BLC a slim lead after 40 minutes of play.

If the second period was devoid of scoring, the final frame made up for that with offensive runs by both sides. It was another early goal for BLC, this time, Chris Boushy got the team going only 30 seconds into the third. The teams went back and forth and showed offensive skill on both ends of the floor. On two separate occasions, BLC built a two-goal lead only to see the Excelsiors claw back and tie the contest. Williams with his second of the night, followed by O’Connor with his second made it 10-8 with five minutes on the clock. The BLC defense stood tall and started Aden Walsh made some critical saves. The Excelsiors did not go away, however, as McConvey with his fifth goal of the game made it 10-9 with 16 seconds to go and BLC held on for the win.

The last chapter of the regular season for BLC includes a road game on Saturday in Owen Sound. They will host Oakville next Wednesday at 8 pm for their final regular season game.