Fergus Thistles work overtime for first win of season
FERGUS – The Fergus Thistles put an end to their five-game losing streak to open the Ontario Junior C Lacrosse League season by scoring twice in overtime for a 15-14 edging on the Brantford Warriors Sunday in a seesaw match at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex.
The Thistles trailed by as much as five goals in the second period before rallying to lead by three halfway through the third period. Brantford came back to force the overtime before the hosts outscored their guests 2-1 in the 10-minute overtime.
Fergus Thistles 15 Brantford Warriors 14 (OT)
“We have a really, really young team (and we’ve had) some huge steps in growth for the players and their confidence,” Fergus coach Dean Harrison said. “I’m really proud of them just to reward their hard work that has been there from the beginning. They all show up at practice and we’re restarting over with an entire new team. It’s great to see the development so quickly.”
The Thistles and junior B Elora Mohawks work hand-in-hand with Fergus serving mainly as a stepping stone to the Elora squad. The Thistles usually give the players their first taste on junior lacrosse.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Harrison said. “We prepared a whole team that played at a very high level last year, and all those players gained great experience from that. (Most are now with the Mohawks.) Now there’s new opportunities for a new group of players and we’re a very young group for this league. Not every team has that same philosophy, so a lot of times we’re playing against teams that have much older players that have been in this league for a number of years, where the vast majority of our players are all in their first or second year. It’s great to see them get some confidence and perform well today.”
The win also leaves the Thistles feeling pretty good about their future.
“I knew that we had a way to go to compete game to game,” Harrison said. “I think by the end of the year we will definitely be where I envision us getting as a team.
Brantford led 5-2 at the end of the first period while the teams were tied 10-10 after the second and 13-14 after regulation time.
Evan McDougall had six goals for the Thistles before Brantford gave Eli Blakely the assignment of shadowing him, effectively taking both McDougall and Blakely out of every play in the Brantford end.
Eddie McDonald had four goals for Elora while single goals were added by Aiden McDougall, Aiden Cormack, Rory Peters, Connor Schmidt and Jarrett Lavigne. Aiden McDougall had seven assists while Cooper Fleet had three, Logan Joyes, Brodie Rice, Lavigne and Evan McDougall had two apiece and Tyler Needham, Connor Hulme, Derek Kurtz, Spencer Aitchison, Liam Peters and Schmidt each had one.
Mitchell Page had four goals and two assists for Brantford while Noah Cupples had three goals and two assists and Krystof Adamec had three goals and one assist. Corson Hawes collected two goals and two assists while Rowan Edwards and Ethan Onland each had a goal and two assists. Justin Brennecke had four assists while Walker Zabransky, Aiden Fraser, Blakely, Alex Long and Matthew Travassos each had one.
Brantford outshot the Thistles 59-50 thanks to a 16-7 advantage in the first period.
Eric Krauter started in net for Fergus, but was lifted in favour of Carter Billings at 7:30 of the second period after Brantford’s ninth goal. Krauter had 17 saves while Billings finished with 28.
Ondrej Hajek had 35 saves for the Warriors.
The Thistles were credited with 10 power-play goals while Brantford had three and the Warriors also had a shorthanded goal.
Wilmot Wild lead the Western Conference at 7-0-0 and they’re followed by the Six Nations Stealth at 6-2-0, Barrie Bombers at 5-4-0, Brantford at 3-4-0, Halton Hills Bulldogs at 2-5-0, Orangeville Northmen at 2-6-0 and the Thistles at 1-5-0.
Fergus is to host Orangeville Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex.
- Guelph Sports Journal
Fergus Thistles work overtime for first win of season
FERGUS – The Fergus Thistles put an end to their five-game losing streak to open the Ontario Junior C Lacrosse League season by scoring twice in overtime for a 15-14 edging on the Brantford Warriors Sunday in a seesaw match at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex.
The Thistles trailed by as much as five goals in the second period before rallying to lead by three halfway through the third period. Brantford came back to force the overtime before the hosts outscored their guests 2-1 in the 10-minute overtime.
Fergus Thistles 15
Brantford Warriors 14 (OT)
“We have a really, really young team (and we’ve had) some huge steps in growth for the players and their confidence,” Fergus coach Dean Harrison said. “I’m really proud of them just to reward their hard work that has been there from the beginning. They all show up at practice and we’re restarting over with an entire new team. It’s great to see the development so quickly.”
The Thistles and junior B Elora Mohawks work hand-in-hand with Fergus serving mainly as a stepping stone to the Elora squad. The Thistles usually give the players their first taste on junior lacrosse.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Harrison said. “We prepared a whole team that played at a very high level last year, and all those players gained great experience from that. (Most are now with the Mohawks.) Now there’s new opportunities for a new group of players and we’re a very young group for this league. Not every team has that same philosophy, so a lot of times we’re playing against teams that have much older players that have been in this league for a number of years, where the vast majority of our players are all in their first or second year. It’s great to see them get some confidence and perform well today.”
The win also leaves the Thistles feeling pretty good about their future.
“I knew that we had a way to go to compete game to game,” Harrison said. “I think by the end of the year we will definitely be where I envision us getting as a team.
Brantford led 5-2 at the end of the first period while the teams were tied 10-10 after the second and 13-14 after regulation time.
Evan McDougall had six goals for the Thistles before Brantford gave Eli Blakely the assignment of shadowing him, effectively taking both McDougall and Blakely out of every play in the Brantford end.
Eddie McDonald had four goals for Elora while single goals were added by Aiden McDougall, Aiden Cormack, Rory Peters, Connor Schmidt and Jarrett Lavigne. Aiden McDougall had seven assists while Cooper Fleet had three, Logan Joyes, Brodie Rice, Lavigne and Evan McDougall had two apiece and Tyler Needham, Connor Hulme, Derek Kurtz, Spencer Aitchison, Liam Peters and Schmidt each had one.
Mitchell Page had four goals and two assists for Brantford while Noah Cupples had three goals and two assists and Krystof Adamec had three goals and one assist. Corson Hawes collected two goals and two assists while Rowan Edwards and Ethan Onland each had a goal and two assists. Justin Brennecke had four assists while Walker Zabransky, Aiden Fraser, Blakely, Alex Long and Matthew Travassos each had one.
Brantford outshot the Thistles 59-50 thanks to a 16-7 advantage in the first period.
Eric Krauter started in net for Fergus, but was lifted in favour of Carter Billings at 7:30 of the second period after Brantford’s ninth goal. Krauter had 17 saves while Billings finished with 28.
Ondrej Hajek had 35 saves for the Warriors.
The Thistles were credited with 10 power-play goals while Brantford had three and the Warriors also had a shorthanded goal.
Wilmot Wild lead the Western Conference at 7-0-0 and they’re followed by the Six Nations Stealth at 6-2-0, Barrie Bombers at 5-4-0, Brantford at 3-4-0, Halton Hills Bulldogs at 2-5-0, Orangeville Northmen at 2-6-0 and the Thistles at 1-5-0.
Fergus is to host Orangeville Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Centre Wellington Community Sportsplex.
- Guelph Sports Journal