BANTAM FURY DROP A TOUGH ONE TO THE BEACHES

On Tuesday night at the Lindsay Rec Complex, the Mason Homes Bantam Fury lacrosse club played host to the Toronto Beaches. In a rematch that the boys had been waiting for for a long time, the game was much different then the first time the two teams squared off. In their first meeting in Toronto back in July, the Beaches put an old fashion whipping on the Fury, shutting them out 8-0.

This game at the start seemed that the Beaches would be in for another easy win, as the Fury seemed to be caught flat footed, and if not for the great goaltending by Fury goalie Josh O'Neill, the game would have been over in the 1st period. The goalie stood on his head, denying the Beaches attack, shot after shot. The team settled down a bit, and started to swing the play the other way, finally getting some shots at the visitor's goalie, who was up to the task as well. From this point on, one could see it was the goalies who would control this game. With just over 5 minutes gone in the 1st period, the visitor's broke the 0-0 tie and took a 1-0 lead on the hometown boys. The play went back and forth for a while, and then with just 5 minutes left in the period, the Beaches increased their lead to 2-0. The Fury mounted a couple of good scoring chances prior to the end of the period, but the 1st ended with the Beaches leading by a score of 2-0.

The 2nd period began with a flurry of shots at both ends of the floor, and both goalies put on a clinic, stopping shot after shot, frustrating the shooters from both teams. At the 3 minute mark of the period a charging penalty was assessed to the visitors and the Fury sent out their number one power play unit to try and bring them closer. As the Fury worked the ball around the outside, Devin Jordan cut across the middle of the floor, just beyond the goalie's crease and took a perfect feed from Tom Weber, and Jordan made no mistake, as he blasted the shot behind the Beaches goalie. You could see the boost that this gave the Fury bench, as the rest of the period was an offensive outburst from both teams, with very little defence. Both goalies again battled for their teams, not giving an inch and frustrating the offence's on both sides, stopping shot after shot. When the buzzer sounded to end the 2nd period, the score was 2-1 in favour of the visitors from Toronto.

The 3rd period was shaping up to be a wild one. The physical intensity of the game really picked up in the 3rd period, with both sides delivering some punishing checks and not wanting to be pushed around. At the 1 minute mark of the 3rd, the Fury tied the game at 2-2 on a goal by Brad Gerrow, with assists going to Devin Jordan and Jasper Poulton. This goal seemed to really get the Fury going, and for the next 8 minutes, the Fury took it to the Beaches, and pressured them in their own end, trying to get the next goal. With the Beaches goalie standing tall, the Fury kept pounding away, and were finally rewarded for their tenacity, when Brad Gerrow notched his second goal of the game, with assists going to Riley Smith and Brenden Hlibchuk. The Fury bench erupted, as they had taken the lead 3-2 over a very tough and talented team. However, not to be outdone, the Beaches mounted the comeback. A couple of defensive breakdowns, and the Beaches scored 3 quick goals to take the lead, a lead they would not give up, and went home with a 5-3 victory.

The visitors however knew they were very fortunate to escape with the victory, as the Fury battled them right until the final whistle.

The next action for the Fury is on Thursday night, when they will play host to the always tough Markham Thunder at 8:00pm in Little Britain. After that final home game the boys play one final road match against the Peterborough Lakers next Monday night.

The balance of next week will be a couple of good hard practices as the boys prepare for the upcoming Ontario Provincial Championships scheduled for the weekend of August 15-17, 2008 in Whitby. The Fury are in the D division, where there are 16 teams in total. The Fury are in the pool with Missisauga, Burlington and Gloucester, with them playing 2 games on the Friday, and 1 on the Saturday in the round robin portion of the tournament.

Stay tuned for further details..








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