The Timbermen and Indians played rough and tumble lacrosse which didn’t end up going Nanaimo’s way.
The Re/Max Timbermen were defeated 9-7 by the Caughnawaga Indians on Sunday evening as the Presidents Cup senior B lacrosse championships got underway at Frank Crane Arena.
The contest mostly came down to a defensive battle, with the score 4-4 early in the third period before the visitors were able to get on a run, go up 9-4 and close the game out.
“We played a fair game,” said Kyle Couling, Timbermen coach.
He said officials before the tournament told teams that players would be allowed to be physical and that was the case Sunday, with hard picks and heavy hits.
“We love to play that kind of lacrosse … that’s what we like to see, but we didn’t adjust to it,” Couling said. “Their defence was more punishing than ours and they wore us down instead of the other way around.”
The Indians’ goalie also came up big; the T-men knew going in he would be tough to crack.
“You’ve got to get creative shots, you can’t just throw the ball at him from outside and hope that it’s going to go in, because it’s not,” Couling said. “We didn’t develop those shots and those opportunities that we needed to.”
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T-men beaten as tournament starts with hard-hitting lacrosse. Nanaimo loses 9-7 to Caughnawaga Indians to start Presidents Cup nationals… https://t.co/NXnc5RdK1o #Nanaimo #lacrosse pic.twitter.com/JUYjYMCJtR
— Greg Sakaki (@BulletinSports) August 27, 2018
Jordan Cunningham led Nanaimo with a hat trick and Nick Preston, Corey Shires, Cayle Ratcliff and Graham Palmer were other scorers. Nick Patterson made 35 saves.
For Caughnawaga, Vaughn Harris had three goals and two assists, Skye Sunday had two goals and Blaze Riorden had a goal and two helpers. Brandon Miller made 40 saves.
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Nanaimo won’t have much time to think about the tournament opener, as the T-men will be tested with two games in one day Monday. Couling said after the morning game against the Saskatoon Brewers, the club will “assess and see who’s hurting, who’s fresh, who’s good,” and develop the lineup that way for the evening’s matchup against the Onondaga Redhawks.
“We just have to be consistently better and we have to execute our systems, we have to penetrate the middle, we have to adjust on defence, recognize the threats, jump out on them and do the things that we’ve done that have been effective,” the coach said.
In other tournament action, the Ladner Pioneers beat the Capital Region Axemen 13-6 and the St. Albert Miners blew out the Brewers 17-4.
GAME ON … On Monday, Aug. 27, the Timbermen and Brewers play at 8 a.m. and then the T-men face the Redhawks at 5 p.m. On Tuesday, the T-men take on the Miners at 8 p.m. For a full schedule, visit www.2018presidentscuplacrosse.com.
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