WEREWOLVES IN NIAGARA

Another tournament, another bunch of last minute cancellations…sigh….

5 runners for the Friday night game, 2 more expected for Saturday but 2 leaving Saturday evening and not available for Sunday’s game – not a very promising weekend. The Niagara team was able to provide 1 player for the weekend to give us 6 runners for Friday night and the battle was on. Unfortunately, the Durham goalie, an old teammate of Russ and Ed from their prehistoric Junior days was hotter than the air in the arena – stopping everything with unbelievable acrobatics (old guys shouldn’t be able to move that fast). Lots of chances, not many goals – their old goalie was way better than our middle aged and old goalie tandem. End result Durham 8 – Werewolves 2.

Saturday morning dawned slightly more promising with the arrival of 2 additional players but the Friday night Niagara recruit was missing due to work (life really shouldn’t be allowed to infringe on lacrosse – where are the priorities?) Anyway, Saturday morning gave us 7 runners – enough that no one should keel over….maybe! Peterboro opened the scoring and built up a 3-0 lead but the Wolves kept clawing back to keep it close. Moving into the 3rd, Wolves were behind by 2 when BigBobF started the push to victory by cutting through the middle, taking the pinpoint pass and scoring a pretty goal with his patented bounce shot to pull the Wolves to within 1.  Wolves kept pressing hard and after extended abuse in front of the net, the JKOW’s temper exploded and the entire arena could see that a goal was going to be inevitable – a laser shot along the ground and the game was tied. A titanic struggle at the ensuing faceoff and the JKOW bulled his way to the top of the circle and drilled another goal on sheer determination (bull-headedness, whatever….). The Boro boys tried for the tieing goal but were denied and the game ended Werewolves 7 – Peterboro 6.

For the afternoon game vs Niagara, another Niagara provided spare joined the Wolves to give us 8 runners but after 1 shift Russ hobbled off the floor and we were back down to 7. Niagara scored a couple before the Wolves were able to respond.  A terrible call from one of the refs resulted in a game misconduct and another runner short but Niagara was unable to score on their power play. A hard shot off GoalieGord’s face mask  shook him up but he soldiered on regardless – then, another cannon shot off Gord’s forehead and he just dropped! A few minutes recovery, some water…. a bit woozy but unwilling to come out of the game, he decided to carry on and the Wolves responded by upping their game as well. BigBob with 2 more of his cutting through the middle goals plus some additions from the other London players pulled the Wolves ahead by a couple of goals in the 3rd. Niagara scored to pull within 2 but London responded with 2 of their own to put the game on ice – Final score London 7 – Niagara 3.

Saturday night – 2 wins already, so tournament on tournament performance metrics are already positive. Time to hit Clifton Hill for another round of bumper cars?….or not. Instead it was a fun(?!) time waiting at the hospital while GoalieGord got his concussion checked out – not a problem, nothing there… but he isn’t allowed to drive home, or drink….. bumper cars are probably out of the question as well 😥  Getting Gord to play in Niagara next year may be an issue – last tournament played, in Niagara, 5 years ago, heat stroke, naked wet goalie passed out in the shower, ambulance trip to the hospital – not a pretty memory. It would appear that GoalieGord and the Niagara tournament do not get along.

Sunday afternoon game – a couple of runners gone, 1 runner suspended, hot arena, Beaches as the opponent – chances of a surprise London victory – slim to none. So – forfeit the game and pick up 3 willing runners from Niagara to keep the remaining London players from expiring or quitting. Hot, hot game and not particularly from a lacrosse point of view. Beaches scored early and regularly, Wolves scored a couple to threaten a bit of a comeback but it wasn’t to be. Final score Beaches 10 – Werewolves 3.

Overall weekend – results were OK, some promising play but the continued lack of bodies on the floor is disturbing. Provincials coming up in a month in Oakville – hopefully better turnout (and good results).

GO WEREWOLVES OF LONDON – AROOOOOOH!

G2