SIX NATIONS – The Six Nations Arrows Express took down the Toronto Beaches twice this weekend by taking both legs of a home-and-home series to close the gap between themselves and the Orangeville Jr. A Northmen. The 5-1-1 Northmen have played two more games than the 4-1-0 Arrows.
After delivering the Beaches a brutal 10-5 beating Saturday, , Coach Richard Merrill started newly acquired goaltender Keaton Dale in his first Jr. A start Sunday night at the ILA. It didn’t go well for him, allowing the Beaches to build a 4-2 first period lead. Toronto added two more before the young and nervous Dale was replaced by Doug Jamieson, who held the fort the rest of the game as the Rebels mounted a comeback 12-6 win.
“For whatever reason, we haven’t been able to get off to a good start this year,” said Coach Merrill following the game. “But it’s a veteran group and starting with our goaltender (Doug Jamieson) going in there and relieving Keaton, the team has great pride and they showed up. It was Keaton’s first game at this level, but it also sent a message to the team that we got to wake up and start playing.”
With the familiar and trustworthy Jamieson in place, the entire team began to play with more confidence, scoring the final nine goals of the game to leave the Beaches in the dust.
Jamieson was very good, and on a few Toronto shots he was downright great, while the Arrows’ offense began to rally. Jordan Durston and Austin Staats scored first period goals, with Staats keeping the Arrows close, until the walls fell in with a torrent of Six Nations Arrows’ goals.
Staats (2G,4A) was the sharp point on the Arrows counterattack, with Haodais Maracle and Josh Johnson next, each with two goals and three assists.
