The St. Catharines Spartans offered little against the fast and powerful Six Nations Rebels in the first round of OJBLL playoffs last week.
Rebels opened the postseason with a 10-2 walk-over against the visiting St. Catharines Spartans in their best-of-five series.
Tanner Baldwin registered the first Six Nations goal of the playoffs for the Rebels at 9:28 of the first period assisted by Daniel Hill. Mason Hill added to that at 14:52 from Daylen Hill.
St. Catharines got into the game with a powerplay goal scored 19 seconds into Gavin Skye’s interference call, but Travis Staats ended the first period 3-1 for the Rebels, unassisted. Five more Rebels goals in the second period, scored by Chayton King, Kobe Whitcomb, Adam Martin, Garret Vyse-Squire, and Mason Hill, completed 40-minutes of play with Six Nations leading 8-1.
Kahn General and Mason Hill scored in the third before Spartans’ Alex Gaston cashed in on a late game Rebels penalty for the 10-2 final. Daniel Hill earned the win in the Rebels’ net.
Game 2 was played in St. Catharines and the Spartans put on a much better show than they did in game no.1. The Rebels kept even and constant pressure on the Spartans who came determined to even the series, and that pressure paid off.
The Rebels led 3-2 after the first period with Six Nations goals scored by Mason Hill, Justin Martin and Riley Miller. Six Nations crushed the Spartans in the 4-1 second period with Waylon Abrams, Chayton King, Jesse Longboat and Wes Whitlow putting the Rebels up 7-3.
The Spartans tried to push back in the third but the die was already cast and even a strong third period wasn’t enough to make a difference. Riley Miller and Tanner Baldwin scored third-period goals for the Rebels.
The series could conclude this Friday, June 29 at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA) on Six Nations for an 8 p.m. start as the Spartans will face elimination. If a Game no. 4 is needed, it will be played June 30, at 7 pm at the Merriton Lions Club Arena. Game 5, if necessary, will come back to the ILA July 2 at 8 p.m.
