OSHAWA – If you have ever heard the expression, always the bridesmaid, never the bride, that must be what the Ohsweken Demons organization is thinking after being the runner up for the Creators Cup, three seasons in a row now.
Friday night the Durham Turfdogs broke their attendance record at GM place in Oshawa and eventually, won their first Creators Cup with a hard fought 11-9 battle against the Ohsweken Demons.
It would be hard to find a reason why either team won or lost in this one as the ebbs and flows shifted constantly, while two things remained constant. Their names are Chase Martin and Lucas Coote and they put on a show with each goalie making highlight reel saves all night.
The Demons won the opening face off and 1:14 later Ohsweken held a 1-0 lead, scored by Ian Martin assisted by Vaughn Harris. It didn’t last long as the Turfdogs let it be known whose house they were in when Dylan Goddard put one just under the cross bar to even the score at 1-1. Durham then took a 2-1 lead but Ohsweken pulled even tanks to Chris Attwood, then took a 3-2 lead with Vaughn Harris making good on a Demons powerplay.
Durham scored two late goals and almost got a third had it not been for a post-to-post save by Martin to end the first quarter with the Dogs leading 4-3.
The Demons evened things again before the Dogs took the lead back to account for the only two goals of the quarter as Martin and Cootes were turning up the fire on shooters at both ends. A late goal by Demons ended the first half tied at 5-5.
The Durham came out of the dressing room for the second half like mad dogs out of a cage, jumping on a three goal lead before the Demons stemmed the tide to close the third quarter. With at least two goals to get and 20 minutes to do it in, the Demons seemed confident remembering the staggering come-from-behind win that killed the Lock Monsters and got them into the Creator’s Cup Championship in the first place.
Ohsweken looked like they were going to do it again early in the fourth quarter scoring two goals to tie the game yet again. But the Turfdogs still had more in the tank and poured in on Martin and the Ohsweken defence forcing him to make one great save after another. The save of the game, however, was a body twisting, behind the back stick save on a rebound that should have been a sure goal for Durham.
Unfortunately for the Demons and a large contingent of Six Nations fans that made the trip, the Dogs just kept coming scoring four straight goals. Ohsweken was down three goals at 11-8 with four minutes remaining. Wenster Green recorded the last goal of the CLax season for the final 11-9 score to earn the Durham Turfdogs the 2016 Creators Cup, the first Cup in their franchise history.
