SIX NATIONS — Sunday night there was almost a robbery at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena as the first place, 6-0 Six Nations Arrows Express were taken to the wall by the bottom dwelling 1-4 Toronto Beaches.
It took a third period Arrows rally to take the game out of the fire and preserve their perfect record against a vastly improved Toronto team with a 10-7 win.
Maybe the Arrows took this one a little too easy, but the Beaches and the Arrows Express were tied 2-2 by the end of the first period.
Austin Staats opened the scoring at 8:01 from Josh Johnson and Quinn Powless, but Alec Tulett answered two minutes later and then Vhad Levick gave Toronto a 2-1 lead at 11:35.
Josh Johnson evened the score from Brendan Bomberry and Staats at 15:20 to end the period.
The Arrows looked a little more like the first place team in the second but not before Toronto took a 4-2 lead. Ian Martin took it upon himself to get his team back in the game with back-to-back goals. Levick gave the Beaches the lead once again at 12:53.
Staats, Martin and Jordan Durston restored the Arrows’ lead and its pride by the end of the second.
Toronto made another rush to tie the score at 7-7, early in the third period. Bomberry, Powless and Martin put the pesky Beaches behind them and the 10-7 win on the record, but it was far too close for comfort, as the Arrows did not look sharp all night.
Give Toronto its due, however. They played a solid disciplined game and without doubt their best performance of the season, Doug Jamieson took the win in the Arrows net making 38 saves on 45 shots.
The Arrows Express rolls into Whitby Tuesday night to face the 4-2 Warriors before returning to the ILA for Thursday night’s matchup with the 2-5 Peterborough Lakers, at 8 pm. They are back home Sunday June 8th against the 5-3 St. Catharines Athletics.
