SIX NATIONS – It was a tired bunch of Arrows that got on the team bus to St. Catharines Monday night, but despite playing four games in quick succession, they pulled off a 12-6 win, taking seven of a possible eight points for the week.
Monday, the A’s got the crowd behind them in the first period by taking a 3-1 lead and out running the Arrows. But a few words between periods and a couple of minor adjustments later, the Arrows blew the roof off the arena with a seven goal outburst ignited by two quick goals by Austin Staats at 3:29 and 4:40.
Newcomer Ryan Lee made an immediate impact scoring four goals and adding an assist in his first game as an Arrow.
The Arrows continued to hit the mark in the third with goals by Austin Staats, Tahoke Nanticoke Shane Simpson and Lee’s fourth of the night. Two late goals by St. Catharines’ Eric Fannell made the final score a little more respectable.
The Whitby Warriors brought their 7-5-2 record into the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena Sunday evening to take on the red-hot Arrows who were coming off of two wins this week including an 8-6 win in Whitby, Tuesday night and an 8-4 win over the Barrie Lakeshores, Friday night in Barrie.
But they hit a road bump against the Warriors who won it 7-5 in OT at the ILA.
Whitby had the jump on the Arrows who were missing a number of key players and a bench augmented with five new or AP players.
The Warriors took full advantage of the situation and led the Arrows 5-3 after two periods. The Arrows stormed back to tie the game and send it into an overtime period where Justin Lemke scored both OT goals against Doug Jamieson for the Whitby win.
Friday night, at the Innisfil Arena, the Arrows doubled up on the Barrie Lakeshores 8-4. Once again it was a strong third period that won it for Six Nations after a closely contested first and second period. Barrie scored the first two goals of the game on Doug Jamieson in the Arrows net. After that, Jamieson was nothing less than sensational making 54 saves on 58 shots on goal.
Meanwhile, the Arrows fired up their offense and closed the period ahead 3-2 with Derek Thomas, Austin Staats ad Tehoka Nanticoke scoring for Six Nations.
Each team netted one in the second frame with Nanticoke tallying his second of the game on a powerplay from Dallas John and Brendan Bomberry.
The Lakeshores ran into Jamieson in the third who held against the tide while Staats scored his second and third of the game and Nanticoke scored his third and fourth. Austin Murray scored for Barrie on a powerplay.
The third period turned ugly after Tyson Bomberry and Liam Patten went toe-to-toe at 9:11. The game remained chippy the rest of the way but in the end, the Arrows Express came out on top.
Last Tuesday, the Arrows prevailed against the Whitby Warriors, 8-6 in Whitby. Six Nations led 3-0 after the first period with goals scored by Brendan Bomberry, and Austin Staats, both on power plays, and Jackson Reid.
Staats and Dallas John increased the lead to 5-0 before the Warriors got on the scoreboard at 6:50 on the second period, which ended with the Arrows leading 7-3. Also scoring for the Arrows were Staats, with his third of the game, and Reid’s second.
The Warriors put in a solid third period outscoring their hosts 3-1 but it would prove top be too little-too late and Six Nations took the points.
Following a very busy week, the Arrows remain in first place with a 13-2-0 record, four points ahead of the 11-5-0 Peterborough Lakers and hold a one game advantage.
Upcoming Arrows games include Friday night in Brampton, followed by Brampton at Six Nations, Sunday evening at 7 pm.