Toronto Beaches Jr A Lacrosse

The Toronto Beaches Junior A Lacrosse season got started with a thud as the home side dropped a 12-8 decision in overtime in their season opener to the Kitchener-Waterloo Braves. The Beaches looked fairly strong in the first period opening up a 3-1 lead. However, they provided ample evidence to support the old adage that you have to play a full sixty minutes to win a game, as a complete let down throughout the second period and the early part of the third period resulted in the Beaches facing a 7-4 deficit with just over fifteen minutes left to play in the game. The Beaches then brought out their “A” game, scoring three goals over a five minute span, including the game equalizer by Todd Hosmer with just three minutes remaining to bring the Beaches even and send the game into overtime. However, it was not to be on this night as the locals were outscored by a count of 5-1 in the extra frame leading to a very disappointing 12-8 loss. Leading the way for the Beaches offensively were Todd Hosmer with five goals and Derek Hopcroft with five helpers. Daniel “the Hammer” Hamlett got off to a fine start to his sophomore season, notching a goal and an assist. Brett Kikot went the distance in net for the Beaches. The Beaches have been shorthanded start off the 2007 season with Stephen Keogh, Damon Edwards and Robert Koger still finishing up the academic year at Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. The Beaches did have Assistant Captain Scott Gamble in the line-up for their season opener, be returned to Elmira College to complete his exams and Ryan returned to Trinity-Pawling School in Pawling, New York to finish up his academic year. The Beaches do not expect to have their full line-up available to them until the fourth game of the season on June 3, 2007 and they will need it as they go on the road to face the defending OLA champions, the Six Nations Arrows in the first of three games on consecutive nights.

The Beaches got off to a fast start in their second game of the year on May 24 against the Ottawa Titans, racing out to an 8-3 lead at the end of the first period. Todd Hosmer was on fire with a goal and five assists in the first period alone. However, the Beach Boys apparently wanted to make a game out of it so they decided to carry the Titans along for the rest of the game and at one point in the second period allowed the Titans to claw back to within one goal at 8-7. However, that was as close as the Ottawa side would come as this shoot-out at the O.K. Corral ended with a 17-14 final score in favour of the Beaches. The offensive stars for the Beaches were numerous with Todd Hosmer finishing the game with one goal and eleven assists, which may be a Beaches single game point scoring record. Chris Nash notched four goals and added three assists and sophomores Daniel Hamlett and Carter Bender continued their strong starts with four and three points, respectively. Derek Hopcroft chipped in with two goals and two assists and rookies Cade Zulak and Kenny Burst notched their first Junior A goals. Brett Kikot got his second consecutive start in the Beaches’ net, but was relieved by Shaun Palmer part way through the second period as the coaching staff tried to inspire Brett’s teammates to pick up their game.

On May 25, the Beaches headed down the Queen Elizabeth Way to Port Credit to face the Mississauga Tomahawks, a team that the Beaches have had their way with in recent years. However, the Tomahawks were determined to write a different story on this night. The Beaches opened the scoring on a nice Carter Bender snipe over the shoulder of Tomahawks goalie Marc Nano. Undeterred, the home side stormed back with two goals to end the period up 2-1. The teams traded goals in the second period with each side notching three. Early in the third period, Beaches rookie J.A. MacDougall tied the game up at 5-5 with his first Junior A goal, to go along with two assists on the night. However, the Tomahawks responded a minute later and then eleven seconds following their go-ahead goal notched another to take a two goal lead. A Todd Hosmer marker narrowed the lead to one with twelve minutes to go, but that was as close as the Beaches would come in spite of pressing hard at the end and narrowly missing scoring the goal which would have sent the game to overtime with one second left on the clock. Leading the Beaches scoring on the night were Daniel Hamlett with a goal and three assists, rookie J.A. MacDougall with three points and Todd Hosmer with two goals. Shaun Palmer and Brett Kikot shared the goaltending duties for the Beaches with Shaun getting his first start of the season and Brett coming on in relief.

After an eight day lay-off, the Beach Boys were back in action on June 3 on the road at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena where they were matched up against the Six Nations Arrows. The ILA is always a difficult place to play and last night proved to be no exception. The Beaches started the game off well, going goal for goal with the Arrows, and found themselves tied a 3-3 midway through the opening frame. However, once again the Beaches fell victim to special teams lapses, surrendering two shorthanded goals to the Arrows during a 4-0 Arrows run to end the period, and headed to the dressing room for the first intermission down 7-3. The Beaches could never climb out of the hole, ultimately losing 13-6, but there was some good five on five play by the Beach Boys over the course of the evening. The Beaches had virtually their full line-up available to them for the first time this season last night, and it helped as Stephen Keogh led the Beaches offence with a goal and three assists and Damon Edwards was everywhere on the floor and did a very good job holding Arrows star Shawn Evans in check. Chris Nash also had a good game for the Beaches notching a hat trick on the evening.

On Monday June 4 at the Sandbox, the Beaches faced off against the Whitby Warriors who had been amongst the top teams in the league early in the 2007 season. The Beaches showed again that they can certainly run with the top teams in the league when they set their minds to it as it was a back and forth game until mid-way through the second period with the teams trading goals until the score reached 5-5. However, the Warriors managed to score the next four goals to build up a 9-5 lead and from that point they did not look back, ultimately securing the win by a 12-8 final score. Todd Hosmer had another strong game offensively for the Beaches with three goals and two assists while Stephen Keogh chipped in with a goal and three assists. Single markers when to Cade Zulack, Chris Nash, Daniel De La Casa and Carter Bender.

On Tuesday June 5, the Beach Boys travelled to Peterborough to face their play-off nemesis from last year, the Peterborough Lakers. It initially looked like the Beaches might break out of their funk despite initially falling behind 3-1. The Beaches roared back with four straight goals and seemingly took control of the game with a 5-3 lead. However, just as quickly as they caught fire, the Beaches spirits were doused as the Lakers came back to even the score at 6-6 by the end of the second period and then scored three consecutive goals to start the third period to jump out to a 9-6 lead. However, this game wasn’t quite over yet as the Beaches stormed back to score three goals in just under three minutes late in the third period, including two short-handed markers, to tie the game 9-9 and send it into overtime. However, a questionable call three seconds before the end of regulation time sent Kevin Mulla to the box to serve a double minor for checking from behind. Just forty-eight seconds into overtime with the Beaches still killing these penalties, the Lakers got on the board with the only goal of overtime and they escaped with a 10-9 win. As previously mentioned, Shaun Palmer had a strong game in the Beaches net. Stephen Keogh led the way offensively for the Beaches with three goals and two assists. Carter Bender also chipped in three goals and one assist and Todd Hosmer helped out with four assists.

On Friday June 8, the Beaches might have been wise to take the thunderstorms, dark skies, heavy rain and strong winds that they ran into on Highway 400 just north of Highway 407 as an omen and turn their bus back towards the Beaches. However, they continued on to their scheduled date in Orillia against the Kings. Unfortunately, the weather on the trip up certainly foreshadowed the result, as the Beaches performed dismally, managing to score only five goals on the night and ultimately losing by an 8-5 tally. For the second consecutive game, the Beaches wasted a strong performance in net by Shaun Palmer as the offence not only failed to produce on the scoreboard, but gave up a number of transition goals. There wasn’t much positive to highlight from this game, although Todd Hosmer led the scoring for the Beaches with one goal and four assists and Branden Collins had a strong night in his second game with the Beaches with his first Junior A goal to go along with two assists. The defence played well when the offence gave it the opportunity to get on the floor and they dominated the Kings in five on five play.

On June 11, 2007, the Beaches faced the Orangeville Northmen at Ted Reeve Arena. The Northmen were coming off a 10-5 loss to the Six Nations Arrows the previous Friday, which marked their first loss of the season, and were looking to get back on track in their battle for first place. On the other hand, the Beach Boys were looking to make this task difficult for the Northmen and they opened up the scoring just over three minutes into the game on a power play goal by Carter Bender. However, the Northmen then reeled off four consecutive goals to take a 4-1 lead before the Beaches would battle back, scoring two goals in the last two and a half minutes of the opening period to narrow the deficit to 4-3. The Northmen extended their lead to 6-3 before the Beaches would tally again about half way through the second period on a goal by Stephen Keogh. Things didn’t look good for the Beaches as Orangeville scored the last two goals of the second period to head into the third holding an 8-4 lead. However, the Beach Boys wouldn’t go quietly on this night as they battled hard in the third period, scoring three consecutive goals to narrow the deficit to one goal. Unfortunately, the Northmen scored to re-establish their two goal lead with 1:29 remaining and then finished things off with an empty net power play goal with 17 seconds remaining in the game to escape the Sandbox with a 10-7 victory. Leading the scoring parade for the Beaches were Stephen Keogh with two goals and two assists and Carter Bender with two goals. Ryan Haynes also chipped in with his first Junior A goal. Bret Kikot had a strong performance in the Beaches net.

In the first game of their two game eastern Ontario swing on June 16 and June 17, the Beaches faced the Akwesasne Indians in the first ever match-up between the Beach Boys and the expansion Indians. Unfortunately, it took a while for the Beaches to shake off their bus legs as they were unable to get on track early, failing to score in the first period, while the Indians were able to put two markers up on the board. In the second period, the Beach Boys decided to make a game of it, but the Indians still outscored them 4-3 and that extended the Indians’ lead to 6-3. Once again, the Beaches did not go down quietly in the third as they scored three goals in the first half of the period to erase their three goal deficit and tie the game at 6-6. At that point, it looked like the Beaches might have the game in hand. However, with just under five minutes remaining, Jeremy Thompson scored for the Indians to put them in the lead for good. Then, just over a minute later, with Beaches in possession of the ball and goaltender Brett Kikot out of the net to provide for an outlet for his defenseman, an errant pass across the goal mouth was intercepted by an Indians player who quickly deposited the ball into the gaping net, ending the Beaches’ hopes on this night. Stephen Keogh had a strong game again offensively for the Beaches scoring three goals, while Todd Hosmer added four assists and Carter Bender aided the Beach cause with a goal and two assists. Brett Kikot once again had a very strong game in goal for the Beach Boys.

The Beaches completed their eastern swing on Sunday, June 17, 2007 with an afternoon tilt at Earl Armstrong Arena in Gloucester, Ontario where the Beaches had been unsuccessful in their initial two tries since the Ottawa Titans entered the Junior A loop in 2005. This game was all Beaches as they were able to halt their eight game losing streak with a 13-7 win over the Titans. The Beaches opened up a 5-2 lead after one period and extended their lead to 12-4 after two periods. In the third, it appeared that the Beaches put their game on cruise control, but they still managed to escape the Nation’s Capital with a 13-7 victory and the season sweep over the Titans. The defence did a lot of the scoring for the Beaches this afternoon, with Graham Bergsma scoring three times and assisting once and captain Dilan Graham chipping in two goals and an assist. Scott Gamble notched his first goal of the year to go along with two assists and Tyler Collins also scored from his defensive position. At the offensive end, Carter Bender had a goal and two assists and Stephen Keogh assisted on three goals. Rookies Branden Collins and Kenny Burst also chipped in with single goals. Shaun Palmer got the start in the Beaches’ net and performed very well, while, in an unusual move, the Titans used three goalies in the game.

Game 11 - Mississauga Tomahawks 12 @ Toronto Beaches 11 (OT) – June 21, 2007

The Mississauga Tomahawks were in town last Thursday night to face the Beaches. Unfortunately for the Beaches, they found themselves making a steady parade to the penalty box which really hurt their performance in this game. Part of this was due to the officiating of the team of Johnstone and Mowry who were the officials involved in the Major Series bench clearing brawl between Peterborough and St. Regis a couple of weeks ago. As a result of that fiasco, Johnstone and Mowry had reportedly been read the riot act and instructed to call everything by the book, which they did on this evening. The Beaches were slow to adjust and, as a result, gave up far too many power-play opportunities. In addition, neither of the members of the Beaches goaltending duo brought his “A” game. The result was that the Beaches dug a hole for themselves and were trailing 8-5 after two periods. However, they battled back and evened the game at 9-9. Mississauga then went out in front again 10-9, but the Beaches tied the game with less than a minute remaining on the clock with Carter Bender doing the honours. In overtime, the Beaches took a one goal lead on a sweet over-the-shoulder goal by Daniel Hamlett. However, that was all the Beaches could muster on this night as they allowed two goals by the Tomahawks to end up losing the game by a 12-11 score. Stephen Keogh once again had a strong night for the Beaches with three goals and four assists and Todd Hosmer was not far behind with two goals and four assists. Derek Hopcroft chipped in a goal and three assists.

Game 12 - Toronto Beaches 4 @ Orangeville Northmen 10 – June 22, 2007

On June 22, 2007, the Beaches travelled to Orangeville for a re-match with the Northmen. The Beach Boys played very well to start the game and were tied 2-2 with the Northmen at the end of one period. While the second period was not quite as good a performance, the Beaches remained within striking distance at 6-4. However, some horribly one-sided officiating by Tom Moxam and Roger Nurse caught up with the Beaches in the third period and they were outscored 4-0 to end up losing the game by a 10-4 count. Transition from offence to defence also hurt the Beaches as it has so often this year. At one point following a wild Chris Nash shot off the end boards, Shaun Palmer, who went the distance for the Beaches in net and performed very well, was facing a five on none Northmen breakaway! Goal scorers for the Beaches were Daniel Hamlet, Cade Zulak, Derek Hopcroft and Ryan Haynes.

On June 25, 2007, in their first game since the trade of their Captain, Dilan Graham, and two of their Assistant Captains, Scott Gamble and Derek Hopcroft, the Beach Boys were looking to make a statement against the Burlington Chiefs and start to lay a foundation for the 2008 season. Things looked good in the early going as the Beaches jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead and chased Burlington starting netminder, Gary Muzzin, from the game. However, what looked to be a runaway would soon turn into a spirited contest as the Chiefs battled back and narrowed the deficit to 5-4 at the end of one period. Once again, it was a poor transition play that hurt the Beaches as their defence was outstanding in five-on-five play the entire evening. It was only when the offence did not hustle off the floor giving the Chief numerous odd man advantages that the Chiefs were able to score consistently.
The Beaches extended their lead to 6-4 early in the second stanza, but three consecutive Chief goals late in the period allowed the Chiefs to take a one goal lead. However, a goal late in the period by rookie Beach Boy Ryan Haynes off a juicy rebound allowed the Beaches to deadlock things once again at 7-7 heading into the third period.
The back and forth affair continued in the third frame as the teams traded goals. Late in the period the Chiefs got up by a goal only to see the Beaches battle back to tie it once again. Just as he had done late in the Beaches’ last home game against the Mississauga Tomahawks, Carter Bender did the honours for the Beaches scoring with 1:19 left in regulation time to send the game into overtime.
It was a tight defensive struggle throughout most of the extra session. However, a questionable penalty call against Graham Bergsma with just under three minutes remaining in overtime sent the Chiefs on the power play and they didn’t waste any time, scoring twelve seconds into the power play. Things looked pretty bleak for the Beaches with the clock ticking down under ten seconds and Burlington in possession of the ball killing the clock. However, an unusual series of events then unfolded to the Beaches’ advantage. The Beach Boys were caught with too many men on the floor with 0:08 remaing resulting in a penalty shot for the Chiefs. Beaches’ netminder Bret Kikot stood tall on the play and foiled the penalty shot attempt by the Chiefs. Fortunately for the Beaches, following a penalty shot, a face-off results. Stephen Keogh won the ensuing face-off cleanly to Damon Edwards who sped down the floor and fed the ball to Chris Nash who bounced a shot into the top left side with just over two ticks left on the clock to break the Chiefs’ hearts and secure a hard-fought tie for the Beaches.
In spite of numerous errors by the Beach Boys, they did play a spirited game and were full marks for the draw. Stephen Keogh once again led the way offensively for the Beaches with four goals and four assists, while Todd Hosmer had two goals and three assists and both Chris Nash and Daniel Hamlet had two goals to go along with a single assist. Carter Bender had two assists in addition to his game tying goal. Bret Kikot had moments of brilliance in the Beaches’ goal as he went the full seventy minutes to secure the tie.

On June 28, 2007 at the Sandbox, the Beaches went up against the surging Brampton Excelsiors who were looking to continue their move up the Junior A standings as a win would have vaulted them into third place. Early in the game it looked like they would be successful, as by just after the five minute mark of the first period they had secured at 2-0 lead in a seemingly effortless fashion. However, the Beaches were not to be denied on this evening as, following the Excelsiors second goal, Stephen Keogh put the Beaches on the board, firing a rocket past Dan Sams in the Brampton net who had been acquired by the Excels from Peterborough at the trade deadline. The Beaches then scored twice more to take a 3-2 lead. Unfortunately, just before the end of the period an errant Excelsiors shot rebounded off the back boards, hitting Beaches netminder Shaun Palmer in the back and dropping into the Beaches goal to even things at threes. The most remarkable thing about this period was that the refereeing team of Scott Malloy and Bill Fox managed to get through an entire period without calling a single penalty. In fact, the fans might be excused for thinking that they had entered the twilight zone as the Beaches managed to play the entire game without being assessed a single penalty by Messrs. Fox and Malloy!
It was during the second period that the Beach Boys really started to shine as they rattled off three consecutive goals, including rookie Aaron Brown’s his first Junior A goal on a sweet fast break, to take a 6-3 lead. The teams then exchanged goals resulting in the Beaches being up 7-4. With a penalty being assessed to the Excels with just under a minute left in the second frame, it looked like the Beaches might be able to extend their lead before the intermission. Unfortunately, Brampton managed to obtain possession and it looked like they were going to kill the remaining time in the period. However with less than a second left on the clock a Brampton player deposited the ball from behind the Beaches’ net off Shaun Palmer’s back and into the net to narrow the deficit to two after two periods of play. The question then became whether the Beaches would be able to recover from this setback and play a strong third period to secure the win.
The Beaches stormed out to start the third period and emphatically answered that question in the positive as they managed to get back the goal scored at the end of the second period when Todd Hosmer notched a power-play marker off of a nice cross crease feed from Daniel “The Hammer” Hamlett on a well-designed set play. Just over halfway through the third period, the Excels started to pull their goalie in an effort to narrow the gap and on the first such attempt they caught the Beaches defence napping and were able to send a player in uncontested to score and narrow their deficit to two goals. However, shortly thereafter, another rookie Beach Boy, Ryan Haynes, deposited his second goal of the evening on a nice drive to the net. This was Ryan’s first multiple goal game of his Junior A career which doubled his career goal output. The Excelsiors got the final goal of the game a couple of minutes later, but that was as close as they would come despite continuing to press right until the end.
The Beaches were full marks for the win on this night as they managed to score nine goals on a Brampton defence that had, up until last night, been giving up goals at a pace of less than six per game. Stephen Keogh and Todd Hosmer provided the bulk of the Beaches offence once again, with Keogh scoring two goals and adding four assists and Hosmer putting up three snipes and two apples. Cade Zulak had a quiet four point game with a nice quick stick goal to go along with three assists. Netminder Shaun Palmer and Chris Nash also had two assists. With their efforts, Hosmer and Keogh moved into second and eighth place, respectively, in the Junior A scoring race. The Beaches defence also deserves kudos for its very strong performance as it effectively denied the Brampton offence all evening.

On Monday, July 2, 2007 at Ted Reeve Arena, the Beaches faced off against the Akwesasne Indians. The Beaches opened the scoring on a nice Carter Bender goal, but the Indians scored the equalizer less than a minute later as the teams finished a low scoring first period tied at 1-1. The offences opened up a little bit in the second period with the Beaches outscoring the visitors 4-3 to take a 5-4 lead into the third period. With the defense playing very strongly and Brett Kikot standing tall in the Beaches net, things looked promising for a strong third period and a Beach Boy win. However, the Indians wasted little time in getting the equalizer, scoring just over two minutes into the third period. Halfway through the third period they scored the go ahead goal, but the Beaches battled back about four minutes later when Branden Collins scored a nice goal to tie the score. Unfortunatley, that was all the Beaches could muster on this evening as the Indians went back up by a goal less than 20 seconds later and a last minute goal by the Indians accounted for the 8-6 final. The Beach Boys’ defence, anchored by Brett Kikot in goal had a very strong performance in this game. Carter Bender led the Beaches scorers with two goals and an assist, Todd Hosmer added a goal and two assists and Stephen Keogh chipped in with three assists.

On Wednesday, July 4, 2007, the Beaches travelled down the Queen Elizabeth Way to Burlington to square off with the Burlington Chiefs at Central Arena. Once again the game started off slowly scoring wise. While the Chiefs scored on their first shot of the game, a long shot that caught Beaches’ netminder Shaun Palmer napping, about another eighteen minutes passed until, with just under two minutes remaining in the first period, Stephen Keogh got the Beaches on the board. In the second period, the Chiefs scored the next two goals to take a 3-1 lead. The Beaches battled back on goals by Damon Edwards and Carter Bender to knot the score again at 3-3. Another goal by each side before the end of the period resulted in the teams heading into the second intermission with the score tied 4-4. The Beaches came out strong in the third period with Carter Bender and Aiden Genik scoring to establish a 6-4 lead. With the defence playing a strong game and Shaun Palmer having settled down in the net and playing extremely confidently, it looked like the Beaches might cruise to an easy victory. However, in spite of allowing only four goals over the first 47 minutes of play, the Beaches then managed to give up four goals in just over nine minutes of play through a combination of selfish penalties and mental errors to find themselves staring down the barrel of an 8-6 deficit. There was no quit in the Beaches though as with just over a minute remaining Cade Zulak scored on a beautiful feed from Stephen Keogh to bring the Beach Boys back within one goal. The Beaches lost the ensuing face-off, but managed to shut down the Chiefs attack and recover the ball with plenty of time to score the equalizer. However, for some reason, the five defensive players on the floor took off down the floor rather than retreating to the bench and getting the Beaches offensive guns on the floor and their goalie out to marshall a last ditch man-up offensive. After a very ill-advised shot from a bad angle by a Beaches defender, the Chiefs recovered the ball and easily ran out the clock for the 8-7 victory. Unfortunately, this brain cramp epitomizes the entire Beaches’ season and is the type of error that the team needs to overcome before it can get back on the winning track. Stephen Keogh had a big night offensively for the Beaches with a two goal and two assist performance, while Todd Hosmer had four assists, Carter Bender had two goals and one assist and Cade Zulak had a goal and two assists.

July 9, 2007 at Ted Reeve Arena certainly wasn’t goaltenders night! The evening didn’t get off to a promising start for the Beaches as by the time the game was forty seconds old the home side was trailing by a score of 2-0. Things didn’t get better very soon as two more Arrows goals put them in front 4-0 and chased starting Beaches’ goaltender, Brett Kikot, from the game. Shaun Palmer came on in replacement for Kikot and played very well in relief. However, this would be a game of streaks and the Beaches got on one of their own as Graham Bergsma finally got them on the scoreboard with a nice transition goal. This really seemed to fire up the Beach Boys and the home crowd which was the largest of the season. As it turned out, Bergsma’s goal started a streak of seven straight Beaches goals, including three by Stephen Keogh, as the Beaches stormed back to take a 7-4 lead. Not to be out done, the Arrows scored two of their own in the last couple of minutes of the first period and the high scoring initial session ended with the Beaches up by a slim 7-6 margin.
The Beaches picked up where they left off to start the second period, as they scored two more goals to open up a 9-6 advantage. It was back and forth for the rest of the period as the Beaches at one point opened up an 11-8 lead. However, the wheels fell off for the Beaches with just under four minutes left in the second stanza when J.A. MacDougall and Todd Duncan took simultaneous penalties putting Six Nations up two men. The Arrows wasted no time, scoring two goals before the penalties were thirty seconds old. The Arrows then returned the favour as Craig Point took a roughing penalty and then had an unsportsmanlike conduct minor tacked on to put the Beaches up a man for four minutes. Unfortunately, over the course of these two penalties, which spanned the end of the second period and the start of the third period, the Arrows managed to score four short-handed goals to go from being down by a goal to up by three! From that point on it was all Arrows as they closed the game on a ten goal run and won this one going away by a score of 18-11. All in all, the Beaches performed very well in this game considering their slow start and the fact that three regulars, being Carter Bender, Chris Nash and Ryan Haynes, were side-lined with injuries. Stephen Keogh led all Beaches scorers with six goals and one assist, while Todd Hosmer had four assists and Graham Bergsma had three goals. Beaches intermediate player Owen Farnworth stepped in nicely in his first ever Junior A game and picked up three apples.