SIX NATIONS — With a win over the Excelsiors 7-5 on Friday, June 8 at Century Gardens, it was easy to expect the Arrows to take another win the following Sunday.
But the team was missing a lead defender Jerry Starts on defence and passes were falling short or being overthrown on offence throughout the game. This made it seem that the Arrows chemistry on the floor was off.
The first period allowed the Excelsiors to score the first goal, but the Arrows were quick to return two more to take the lead by the middle of the period. Goals from Owen S. Hill and Travis Longboat gave the impression that they were going to lead for the rest of the game.
However, with a few minutes left in the period the Excelsiors scored twice, ending the period one goal ahead. And coming back to the floor for the second period amped up, gave the Excelsiors their highest scoring period.
The Arrows came out strong too though, with goals from Hill for his second, Longboat for his second and Austin Starts for his first. But each goal was returned a mere few seconds after each, which showed that Brampton was prepared to keep the lead at all costs as the Arrows found themselves short-handed for six minutes of the period in penalties.
This allowed the Excelsiors to rack up five goals and the Arrows to only return one by Longboat from Staats, finalizing the period 6-11.
The third period was a low scoring period, as the Excelsiors focused on maintaining their lead by amping their defence and the Arrows tried to connect with one another on offence. But missed passes and intercepted passes chewed time out of the period, and left the Arrows only able to score twice.
Goals by Devon Buckshot from Staats and Longboat and by Leland Powless from Staats and Kevin Owen Hill were cancelled out by the three goals the Excelsiors earned by the end. This finalized the game 8-14.
Overall, the game could have been won had the focus been in the right places.
Staats, who ranks third among league scoring leaders with 55 points, was locked off by the Brampton defence. This put a lot of pressure on Staats to fight to get to the net and more pressure to take the lead by the other shooters. With a lot of tries, Staats could only bury once, but switched his focus to feeding cutters and assisted in six goals alone.
But Jeff Teat, who serves as the Excelsiors captain, is ranked second among league scoring leaders with 57 points. The Arrows didn’t lock him off in the same way the Excelsiors took to removing Staats from plays, and he was quick to score a full five goals and assist in four. Had he been guarded closely, the Arrows would have been able to take the game.
For their next home game, the Arrows are set to host the Barrie Lakeshores on Thursday, June 14 at the ILA at 7pm.
