Regals come back from early deficit with opening-game win
The Guelph Regals rallied from an early two-goal deficit and withstood a third-period parade to the penalty box to claim a 10-7 win over the Wallaceburg Red Devils in their Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League season opener Sunday at the Victoria Road arena.
Wallaceburg scored twice in the first three minutes of the game, thanks partly to the Regals taking a penalty as the teams lined up for the opening faceoff.
The locals came back from the deficit with five goals in eight minutes to jump ahead for good.
Guelph led 6-3 at the end of the first period and 9-5 at the end of the second.
The Regals extended their lead with a power-play goal six minutes into the final period before taking five consecutive minor penalties, allowing the visitors to close the gap to three goals, but they couldn’t get any closer.
Brett Vince, Sam Savery, Marcus Visentin and Ben Morton each scored twice for the Regals while single goals were netted by Tyler Beecraft and Darcy Rybinski. Dylan Davey and Vince had three assists apiece while Graeme Crowder and Caelan Brady had two apiece and Beecraft, Savery, Griffin Crowder, Morton and Rybinski each had one.
Brayden Mitchell had two goals for Wallaceburg while Reece Parker, Cohen Veenstra, Brandon Taylor, Kanton Verstraeten and Notah Hopkins had one each. Verstraeten had three assists while Veenstra, Kaelen Smith and Hopkins each had one.
The Regals outshot Wallaceburg 44-30 and scored five power-play goals while the Red Devils had three power-play markers and two shorthanded goals.
Connor Waller had 23 saves for Guelph while Waukiigan Shognosh had 34 for Wallaceburg.
While the game was the first game of the regular season for the Regals, the Red Devils had clobbered the Welland Generals 15-1 in Wallaceburg Saturday.
The Regals are to play a pair of games at the Victoria Road arena this week as they’re to host Welland (0-2-0) Friday at 8 p.m. and the Owen Sound North Stars (0-0-0) Sunday at 3 p.m.
- Guelph Sports Journal