The Presidents Cup national championships will have the home team in the medal round.
The Nanaimo Timbermen defeated the Oakville Titans 6-5 in overtime Thursday at Frank Crane Arena to earn a berth in the medal round of the senior B lacrosse championship tournament.
Jordan Cunningham scored the game-winning goal a minute and a half into sudden death.
“We executed everywhere we needed to,” said Kyle Couling, coach of the Re/Max Timbermen. “The heart was there and the effort was there and that’s what we needed.”
The Timbermen were ready for the Titans’ quick transition game.
“We played really well, we got the win,” said Shane Chalker, T-men transition defender. “We stuck to our plan, which was to stop their fast break first and then focus on setting up five-on-five.”
Corey Shires and Jeff Shattler scored two goals each to lead Nanaimo’s attack, Cayle Ratcliff also scored and Cory Conway finished with four assists. Nick Patterson made 39 saves as shots were 44-41 in favour of the opposition.
The win boosted Nanaimo’s record to 4-2, meaning the T-men will finish the round robin tomorrow either third or fourth, a better showing than their last three trips to the Presidents Cup.
“We’re into uncharted territory and in a one-game tournament like this, anything can happen,” Couling said. “And like I said yesterday, we’re getting a bit better every game, we’re peaking, we’re peaking, whereas I think a few of these teams might have shown their best.”
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Chalker said “it means a lot” to make it through to the medal round and said the Timbermen are inspired right now to play for each other and for fans and everyone helping with the tournament. Having played all the other top teams, he suggested the T-men are contenders.
“I feel confident and I’m pretty sure everybody in the locker room’s feeling it, too,” he said. “So we’ll see going forward.”
GAME ON … The Timbermen close out round-robin play Friday, Aug. 31, with a 4 p.m. game against the Capital Region Axemen. For more schedule information, visit www.2018presidentscuplacrosse.com.
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