Northmen double up on Shamrocks 10-5

August 26th, 2008 by Lauren Ward

In a game that featured 12 fighting majors, four misconducts, and a trio of goals from Stephen Keogh, the Orangeville Northmen rolled over the team considered to be their stiffest competition at the Minto, downing the Victoria Shamrocks 10-5 last night.

Orangeville jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first—two of those goals courtesy of Keogh—before Victoria’s Michael Pires found a way around NLLinsider’s goaltender of the year Nick Rose. The period ended with hefty 5-1 Orangeville lead and a few scraps in the bag, including Andrew Suitor vs. Dylan Ward.

“They scored early and we didn’t,” Victoria coach Dan Green told the Calgary Herald. “I think that was the difference in the game. About halfway through we started getting our shooting on, but it wasn’t enough.”

Jeremy Noble, Sean Gillies and Glen Bryan each struck in the first ten minutes of the second period for Orangeville, stretching the lead out to 8-1 before Cayle Ratcliff and Scott Stone scored for the Shamrocks to make it 8-3. The third period played host to two goals from each team as well as a mess of fights and other infractions, including Keogh dropping Victoria’s Rory Theriault to the floor in a bloody heap.

“We’re used to that,” said Northmen head coach Matt Sawyer. “Teams try to intimidate us. We are small, we’re young, we’re fast and teams try to beat us up. But we’re not going to back down from anyone.”

Victoria has a chance to redeem themselves tonight, taking on the Edmonton Miners, 7:30 PM MST at the Max Bell. The Northmen are back in action on Wednesday vs. the Mountaineers.

Note: My apologies to Dillon Ward of the Orangeville Northmen, who is not Dylan Ward of the Victoria Shamrocks and certainly did not square off in a fight with his own teammate Andrew Suitor as I originally wrote.

Ward began covering lacrosse for The Lacrosse Journal in 2005 and became its editor-in-chief a year later. Email her at lauren.ward@nllinsider.com.

Rate This Story: