NLL Insider

Onward it is for the Peterborough Lakers, whose 12-9 victory Monday night over the Brooklin Redmen was the clincher for the Lakers in their best-of-five Major Series Lacrosse quarterfinal playoff series. It’s not a huge surprise that the Lakers won this series, 3-1. Some may even argue that the Lakers should have won, given the talent on their roster. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take a look at the Brooklin roster, a collection of young fellas who did anything but roll over against their heavily-favored opponent. By all accounts, the Redmen have a bright future in store for them.

Sure, Peterborugh didn’t have the dominant regular season we’re accustomed to seeing the team post. But a 12-6 record with 201 goals-scored in the regular season is nothing to take lightly. Besides, when your roster includes the likes of Shawn Evans, Dan Carey, Josh Wasson, Mat Giles, Tracey Kelusky, Geoff Snider and, eventually, John Grant Jr., the expectations are high. Very high. Throw in Pat O’Toole and Derek Collins in goal and it’s a pretty good situation to be in if you’re a Lakers fan.

And in the end, the experience of the Lakers came through. But against what did it come through? Brooklin struggled to a 4-14 record in the regular season and pretty much backed into the playoffs. But the Redmen were there, and they held their own. Peterborough won Games 1, 2 and 4 but none of the wins were by more than three goals. Pretty impressive when you consider just who was running the offense for Brooklin.

Standing out most prominently is that at the end of the regular season, two of Brooklin’s top three scorers are guys who all are still in college. Derek Hopcroft (Bellarmine) was the team’s leader with 53 points and Jason Mainer (Guelph) was No. 3 with 24 points. Brooklin’s No. 2 scorer was Shawn Williams, the veteran who played just 10 games before he was traded to Brampton.  Yet when the playoff switch was hit, Hopcroft turned on the jets with 16 points in the four playoff games. Kyle Buchanan, who just finished his freshman year at Robert Morris University, added 15 points in the four games and Steve Hutchins, just two years out of college, added 10 points.

“Not once did we quit. Not once did we throw the towel in,” Brooklin coach Peter Vipond told newsdurghamregion.com.

Ineed, they did not. Look, there’s no doubt the 2009 summer was a struggle for the Redmen. They didn’t win a game on the road, their 131 goals-scored was last on the circuit and the 193 goals-allowed was second-worst. But, the Redmen not only qualified for the playoffs, they held their own against a mighty Peterborough squad. The future’s bright. As bright as those classic Brooklin teams from the late 1980s? It’s impossible to know right now, but when a team as young as this one performs the way it did this past week in the playoffs, you’ve got to think the boys of Brooklin are on the right path.

As a side note, we’d be remiss to not wish a speedy recovery for Tyler Worden, who broke his ankle toward the end of a fight last night with Snider.

Loose balls: Up next for Peterborough is the Six Nations Chiefs in a semifinal round. No word on the schedule as of yet, but we’ll get it posted as soon as we get it … Grant Jr. didn’t play for the Lakers, apparently still resting his injury … Dan Carey missed the game, too, absent for family reasons, according to The Peterborough Examiner … The other MSL quarterfinal series continues tonight with Kitchener-Waterloo at St. Regis. K-W leads the series, 1-0 … Vipond told newsdurhamregion.com that he expects Williams to be back with the team. “Shawn’s a great guy and Shawn’s a Brooklin Redmen. He’ll be back,” the coach said.

Rate This Story:

(+6 rating, 2 votes)

 Loading ...