2001 Game Reports
Knights Rout Posse
by Ted Montour,
30 June 2001, Merivale Arena, Ottawa - The Nepean Knights concluded
their 2001 OLA Junior B regular season with a 23 - 4 decision over the
Brantford Posse.
The visitors' day, which began with a very trying bus ride through Canada
Day week-end, Highway 401 traffic, didn't get any better after the arrival
at the Merivale Arena. The Knights scored 10 first-period goals, including
3 by Mickey Gilchrist, to 2 for the Posse, and were never threatened.
Midget call-ups Ian Hourston and Mike McDonald were in the line-up, and,
with just over five minutes remaining in the second, Hourston went in
to relieve starting goal-tender Brad Conlon, with the score at 16 - 2
Knights. Brantford was held scoreless in the middle frame, and the Knights
led 17 - 2 after two.
Brantford's Shad Walton opened the scoring in the third, but the Knights,
in a continuing show of sportsmanship and restraint, added 6 more to
their total, against 1 more from the Posse's Dallas Hess, as the third
period closed out 23 - 4.
Jeff Van Every, Matt Whitlow, Shad Walton and Dallas Hess scored for
Brantford, and Kyle Winger and Tom Powless shared the goal-tending duties.
Mickey Gilchrist scored 3 goals and added 5 assists, to bring his regular
season's output to 50 and 51, respectively. Twelve other Knights marked
under "G" this night: Stu McFarlane 3, Tim Stevenson, Scott
Reeves, Jeff Chaput, Evan Sarazen, Adam Thrasher, and Craig O'Regan 2
each, and Brad Callaghan, Ryan Cousineau, Chris Houlahan, Nolan Gilchrist,
and Brennan Sarazin, 1 apiece.
The Knights will begin their quarter final play-off round, against the Akwesasne Lightning, next Friday, 6 July. Details will be announced as soon as available.
Knights over Griffins for the Ferguson
by Ted Montour,
29 June 2001, Earl Armstrong Arena, Ottawa - The Nepean Knights gave their special teams a work-out, although not quite in the manner one might expect, as they defeated the Gloucester Griffins 12 - 4, and held onto the Ferguson Cup, emblematic of National Capital junior lacrosse supremacy for the last decade.
Click
here for more info on the 'Fergie' Cup.
Players and fans alike felt the heat and humidity, as the first period
saw somewhat sluggish starts from both teams, and only two goals, both
short-handed. Mickey Gilchrist took a turn-over ball from outside the
face-off circle to Griffins' 'tender James Jordan's left, then beat three
Gloucester Griffins and scored. Brennan Sarrazin potted the second for
the Knights, over seven minutes later.
The chippy play and consequent parade to the penalty box made for a LONG
second period, and referees Spies and Morrison were kept busy with minors
and skirmishes. Jason Lacroix opened the scoring with a power-play marker
two minutes in, before James Leitch finally put the hosts on the board
at 6:10 in, with a rare even-strength goal. Gloucester would do all of
their scoring in this stanza, as Zac Tataryn, Nathan McKeough with a
man advantage, and Colin Linton subsequently got on the score-sheet.
Nepean got goals four, five, six, and seven from Jeff Chaput, Ryan Cousineau,
and two more short-handers from 'the Mick' (apologies to Yankee fans
of a certain age). Score after two: Knights 7, Griffins 4.
Dominic Frangione took over from starter Brad Conlon to begin the final
frame, and Tom Marwick scored on another Knights' power-play at 1:44.
Mickey Gilchrist yet again, Jason Lacroix with his second, Scott Henry
on a short-handed, pass-intercepting, hand-changing bouncer, and Mickey
with the point finale, finished the Griffins emphatically.
Gloucester got single goals from James Leitch, Zac Tataryn, Nathan McKeough,
and Colin Linton.
Mickey Gilchrist scored 5, including 3 short-handed, Jason Lacroix 2,
and Brennan Sarrazin, Jeff Chaput, Ryan Cousineau, Tom Marwick, and Scott
Henry 1 each. All told, the Knights special teams scored 8, only 3 with
a man advantage.
The Knights close out their 2001 regular season tomorrow, Saturday 30
June, beginning at 8:00 p.m. at the Merivale Arena, as they host the
Mid-West Division Brantford Posse.
Knights Road Woes Continue
25 June 2001
The Knights were on the road again this past weekend but only came away with a split of the 2 games and a few more stories.
On Saturday Nepean let a 3rd period lead over Orangeville slip away but squeaked out a win in overtime 15-12, while on Sunday the Knights fell behind early and lost to Barrie 16-11.
Unlike the previous road trip, this one started smoothly and was uneventful all the way to the hotel in Brampton. The biggest excitement was when a pint-sized pink bus passed our Z-Bus on the 401 and someone was heard to remark "That's Gloucester that's passing us .. oh well, we have to let them beat us at something!".
Game 1 at Orangeville: The pre-game rendition of O Canada delivered by an Orangeville gentleman without the benefit of musical accompaniment or microphone was one of the best ever heard in a lacrosse arena, and inspired the Knights to join in with boisterous pride. Unfortunately the crowd did not appear to appreciate the players' efforts and were heard to mutter something about "sticking to lacrosse".
In any case, Nepean jumped out to an early lead but Orangeville answered quickly to knot the game at 1-1. The Knights controlled play for most of the period and held a 4-2 lead going into the last 3 minutes but were getting frustrated at the uncalled interference and stick-holding taking place at both ends of the floor. Eventually the frustration boiled over resulting in 2 late Nepean penalties and an Orangeville powerplay marker to send the teams to intermission with Nepean ahead 4-3. In the 1st period Wayne Bonnet went down with a knee injury that kept him out of action for the weekend and could end his season. The Knights weathered another penalty early in the second and scored a goal of their own to go ahead by 2, 5-3. After missing a pair of obvious calls against Orangeville, Nepean was assessed two consecutive questionable penalties, plus an additional 2 minutes for not having one of the penalized players listed on the gamesheet (apparently "checking your list twice" is concept not used in the legal profession). The Northmen took advantage and scored 3 power-play goals on a shaky Brad Conlon to vault into a 6-5 lead. After substantial encouragement from the Nepean bench, the referees turned the tables and assessed the next 4 penalties to Orangeville which led to 2 Knights powerplay goals. Nepean rounded out the period with 2 even strength markers to take a commanding 9-6 lead to the dressing room.
Orangeville opened the 3rd period with 2 quick goals to cut the lead to 1. Another exchange of goals kept the game close until the mid-way mark when the Northmen hit for a pair to jump in front 11-10. With 5 minutes remaining Scott Reeves scored the tying goal, and on the powerplay Reeves scored again to give the Knights the lead with just over 2 minutes remaining. The Northmen were now pulling their goalie on every possession and it paid off with the equalizer with only 44 seconds remaining. Just as it seemed that overtime was a sure thing, goalie Brad Conlon made a huge save and a fine long pass to a streaking Mickey Gilchrist. Mickey bobbled the ball, gained control, bobbled it again, gained control again and still had a scoring chance with 1 second remaining that was stopped by a stellar effort from the Orangeville keeper.
In overtime both defences stiffened and the goaltending was solid. A well deserved penalty to the Northmen opened the door for the Knights, and a pair of offsetting minors improved the situation by making the powerplay a 4-on-3. Captain Stu McFarlane took advantage and scored what would turn out to be the eventual game winner. Late goals by Scott Reeves and Nick Grenier iced the 2 points and sent the visiting Knights home happy. Player of the Game for Nepean was Tom Marwick.
Nepean Scoring: Mickey Gilchrist (2,5) Scott Reeves (3,3) Ryan Cousineau (3,2) Tom Marwick (1,4) Stu McFarlane (2,1) Brad Conlon (0,3) Tim Stevenson (2,0) Nick Grenier (1,0) Jason Lacroix (1,0) Brennan Sarazin (0,1) Evan Sarazen (0,1) Nolan Gilchrist (0,1)
After an uneventful evening the Knights were on the road by 11:40 for the 1 hour drive to Barrie up highway 400. Upon joining the 400 traffic heading north the team was greeted by stop-and-go madness, but to everyone's relief things picked right up once the "Canada's Wonderland" exit was behind them. Things were going according to plan causing the coaching staff to comment how "we'll have a bit of extra time before the warm-up to review a couple of plays". No sooner had the sound of the words died out when the bus suddenly slowed and pulled onto the shoulder, also known as the 'breakdown lane'. The bus had suddenly overheated a mere 20 minutes from the arena. Surely it could be nursed to life and take the team into Barrie before needing repairs? "Not so" said the trusty fireman / equipment manager / trainer who was ably assisting the bus driver in diagnosing the situation.. After lengthy examination of the engine and determining that lack of coolant was the problem Mr. Fireman / Mechanic came aboard and announced that "the bus is out of commission .. water is streaming out of the radiator faster than we can pour it in!". Without wasting time to question how that is possible, the coaching staff got on the cell phones to contact parents accompanying the team. Instead of being good parents and following behind the bus, all the parents were either already at the arena or ahead of the bus. Nevertheless enough cars were eventually mustered to shuttle players to the arena 3 or 4 at a time with smelly lacrosse equipment on their laps in time to start the game a mere 25 minutes late.
Game 2 at Barrie: With the adrenaline pumping from all the pre-game activity, and after belting out another fine chorus of O Canada, the Knights scored only 6 seconds into the game. Unfortunately Barrie came right back with 2 goals of their own to take a lead they would never give up. Nepean did manage to tie the game at 2-2, but the Tornado poured in 4 goals in mid-period to bury the Knights. At the end of the 1st it was 7-2 Barrie.
In the second period the Knights struggles continued as Barrie extended their lead to 10-3. Starting goalie Brad Conlon was not having his best game and was also starting to suffer from heat exhaustion. To add to the situation the Knights were without a backup goalie dressed, so Brad had to tough it out until shooter Jason Lacroix volunteered to "don the pads" for the team. Jason took over for Brad with just over 5 minutes remaining in the period and the score 11-3 for the Tornado. The Knights responded by scoring 2 of the final 3 goals of the period and headed to the dressing room down 12-5 with one of their runners between the pipes.
Lacroix played the entire third period, and played well, holding Barrie to 4 goals while the Knights managed 6 of their own making the final score 16-11 for the home team. The third period wasn't without other excitement as the two teams became quite chippy which resulted in a couple of tussles. During the final skirmish in the last minute of the game, one of the host Barrie players was courteous enough to assist Knight Nick Grenier into the visitor's penalty box, although it did appear as if it might have been head-first. The referees eventually restored order and the game mercifully ended.
Player of the Game for Nepean was Scott Reeves.
Nepean Scoring: Mickey Gilchrist (3,2) Ryan Cousineau (3,0) Scott Reeves (1,1) Stu McFarlane (1,1) Brennan Sarazin (1,0) Scott Henry (1,0) Nolan Gilchrist (1,0) Adam Thrasher (0,1) Craig O'Regan (0,1) Evan Sarazen (0,1) Jeff Chaput (0,1)
The story doesn't end here . what about the bus?? It turns out the radiator was indeed 'gone' and so another bus would pick the team up at the arena sometime between 7 and 8 PM, more than 1 1/2 hours after the end of the game. After showering and changing, the players left their equipment outside the arena and went off in search of food while the coaches stood guard. No one is quite sure why the coaches stood guard, for who in their right minds would steal used lacrosse equipment that had just been worn for a whole game in 30 degree C temperatures? The arena closed around 6 PM so once the feasting was over the team passed the time in many novel and inventive ways. A handful played hackey sack, two studied for exams schedule for 9 AM Monday morning, a few tried 'rounders' with a lacrosse ball, three tried to form a band using instruments 'recovered' from the garbage can, a large number practiced lying motionless, but the most industrious were a threesome who played a game that consists of re-arranging letters of an existing word to make new words. They were very good at it, especially those who were familiar with the ancient language of Latin, and entertained the rest of the team for most of the wait. Some of the Barrie residents were also in admiration of their efforts, but were too shy to join in the fun. Finally the bus arrived shortly after 7 PM and delivered the team uneventfully back to Ottawa in good time. The Knights can hardly wait for the next "Road Trip from Heck".
Lightning Strikes Knights Again
by Ted Montour,
14 June 2001, Merivale Arena, Ottawa - The Nepean Knights needed to avenge
an 8 - 7 loss to the Akwesasne Lightning two weeks ago, in order to keep
pace with their rivals for second place in the OLA Jr. B Far East. With the
best crowd of the 2001 season on a hot and humid Fan Appreciation Night, their
offence stalled, however, while Akwesasne surged, and the result was
Lightning 12, Knights 6.
The game started well for the home side; --- after Akwesasne's Jon Tarbell scored
the first goal of the night, Jason Lacroix, Nolan Gilchrist, Stu McFarlane,
and Adam Thrasher reeled off 4 straight for Nepean. After Jordan Thompson
and Tom Marwick exchanged fire, the visitors added 2 more, to make it
5 - 4 Nepean after a very entertaining first period.
The Lightning, after scoring the last 2 goals in the opener, added 3
more to start the second, for a string of 5 straight of their own,
and a lead they would not give up the rest of the night. Brad Conlon
replaced starter Dom Frangione 6:17 into the second, and would finish
the game, however, the Knights were able to add only 1 more in support,
when Lacroix scored his 2nd at the 11:12 mark. The Lightning's Ryan
Oakes closed out the middle frame, for an 8 - 6 lead after two,
and Akwesasne added 4, unanswered, to close out the game in the
third period.
Akwesasne's Jon Conners led all scorers with 3, while Jordan Thompson
and Ryan Oakes added 2 each, and Jon Tarbell, Scott Thompson, Josh
Jacobs, and Ryan Jacobs 1 each. Jason Lacroiz was the only multi-goal
scorer for the Knights with 2, and singles went to Nolan Gilchrist,
Stu McFarlane, Adam Thrasher, and Tom Marwick. Knights' scoring
leader Mickey Gilchrist was held to 2 assists.
The Knights have 4 games remaining in their 2001 regular season, all
against teams with .500 records or less, while the Lightning, with
2 games in hand and a 2-game lead over Nepean, must face Far East
Division leaders Onondaga a second time, having lost 14 - 6 to the
Warriors last month.
After the OLA Junior B All-Star game in Wallaceburg this week-end, where they
will be represented by Mickey Gilchrist and Stu McFarlane, the Knights travel
to Orangeville and Barrie next week-end, go across town to the Earl Armstrong
Arena to visit the Gloucester Griffins on 29 June, and host the Brantford
Posse on Saturday 30 June, at 8:00 p.m. at Merivale Arena.
Knights Sweep Road Trip
11 June 2001
The Knights took both games on the weekend road trip, but not without some memorable moments along the way.
The weekend trip started out on the wrong foot Saturday morning with the bus being late. When trusty bus driver 'Roch' was contacted by phone 10 minutes after the designated pickup time and asked why he was late, the answer came back "You guys are always late so I thought I'd come later this time". The one morning the whole team is ready to go, and the bus driver is late!!!
After departing, the movies were reviewed and Tom Green's "Road Trip" was selected as first into the VCR. If only we'd known the significance of the title ........ for halfway between Brockville and Kingston we were surprised by a loud 'kabang', and the spraying of rubber behind the bus as the remnants of one of the rear tires decided to part company from the rest of the bus. A quick call to the repair shop, an hour later, and we were back on the road again. By picking up food and eating on the bus we managed to make up the lost time and arrive at the Georgetown arena exactly 1 hour before gametime as originally planned.
9 June 2001, Memorial Arena, Georgetown - The excitement on the bus must have generated a good supply of adrenaline as the Knights scored on the first shift of the game and shut out the homeside Halton Hills Bulldogs for the opening 20 minutes to go into the first intermission leading 4 - 0 in one the best periods of lacrosse played all season. In the second period penalties cost the Knights as the Bulldogs scored 3 powerplay markers against 2 even strength goals for Nepean to close the gap to 6 - 3. Halton Hills opened the third with another powerplay goal to close within 2, but Adam Thrasher answered right back to restore the 3 goal cushion. After some dominating defense by the Knights, they scored 5 straight goals in a 4:09 span to open up an insurmountable 8 goal lead, and cruise to a 13 - 7 final.
Adam Thrasher was named player of the game for his solid defensive play and career high 2 goals and 3 assists. Other Scoring (Goals, Assists) Mickey Gilchrist (2,3) Stu McFarlane (2,2) Brennan Sarazin (0,3) Wayne Bonnet (2,1) Ryan Cousineau (2,0) Scott Reeves (1,1) Scott Henry (1,0) Nick Grenier (1,0) Darren Denyes (0,1) Tom Marwick (0,1).
That evening, the "Road Trip" continued with dinner at a local restaurant while watching the deciding game of the Stanley Cup. Unfortunately there must have been something in the food as several players came down with a sudden illness that caused their hair to turn rainbow colours (see pictures below). Inexplicably it only affected the first year players. Fortunately they recovered quickly and were later seen at a dance school across from the hotel 'participating' in their year end recital (see picture below), and were well enough to play the game the next day versus Guelph.
10 June 2001, Memorial Gardens Arena, Guelph - Despite extensive pre-game preparations, the Knights came out like a boat on fire and were scored on three times in the first 1 minute and 42 seconds setting a new team record when rookie goalie Brad Conlon was pulled in favour of Dom Frangione. After much discussion the referees decided Dom's mask was illegal (the peak of his mask was too long) so Dom had to wear Brad's helmet and mask. The change in goalie's didn't help right away as Nepean drew a penalty almost immediately, and while questioning the call Assistant Captain Scott Henry and the Bench were each given 2 minute Unsporstmanlike Conduct penalties putting the Knights 2 men down for 2 minutes and 1 man down for another 2 minutes after that. Not to be outdone by Brad or Scott, Coach Zywicki decided on the next possession call against Nepean to explain to the referee the similarities between the referee's judgement and a certain bovine natural body by-product, whereupon the ref decided to give Coach Zywicki the rest of the afternoon off and set another team record .... ejected after only 3 minutes and 27 seconds.
At this point the Knights are down 3 - 0, have 3 players in the penalty box, and their head coach is sitting in the stands. With their backs against the wall the players started to bear down and responded with a short-handed goal by Mickey Gilchrist to narrow the gap to 2. The Regals used the extended powerplay to regain the 3 goal lead and increased it to 5 - 1 only 7 minutes into the game. Finally there was a solid stretch of 5-on-5 play that seemed to get the Knights back onto their game, giving them a powerplay chance that resulted in a goal, followed quickly by another to close the gap to 5 - 3 with 8 minutes left in the period. More penalties and another Guelph goal ended the period at 6 - 3 Regals.
Guelph scored early in the 2nd, but the Knights responded quickly to keep the game within reach. The next 5 minutes saw a powerplay goal by each team plus a shorthanded goal by Guelph to hit the halfway mark with the Regals in front 9 - 5. On the 9th goal Dom Frangione was injured, apparently straining the tacononcrucial ligament in his ankle. After retrieving his helmet from the ailing Dom, Brad Conlon came back into the game and started redeeming himself for the bad start. The final 10 minutes of the period were all Nepean as they scored quickly on the powerplay and 2 more at even strength by rookie Darren Denyes. Heading into the locker rooms the score was 9 - 8 for Guelph, but Nepean had a air of confidence while the Regals looked disheartened.
Guelph came out and scored early on some poor defense by Nepean to lead by 2, but the next 4 minutes would see Nepean take the lead for the first time and extend it to 12-10 during a solid stretch of 5-on-5 play. Unfortunately the referees decided to keep it close by sending a Knight to the penalty box almost continuously for the next 8 minutes. This backfired as Nepean scored 2 shorthanded markers to keep pace with Guelph scoring, holding a 14 - 12 lead going into the final 6 minutes. Particularly satisfying for the Knights, and especially Brad Conlon, was the clinching goal. After making a save while a man short and the score 13 - 12 for Nepean, Conlon scooped up the loose ball in his crease and fired a bulls-eye pass to a streaking Scott Henry who picked the top corner for the Knights 3rd short-handed marker of the game. Mickey Gilchrist iced the game with 4 minutes left on a solo effort and capped his 'Player of the Game performance.
Nepean Scoring: Mickey Gilchrist (3,4) Tom Marwick (3,1) Scott Reeves (2,0) Darren Denyes (2,0) Stu McFarlane (2,0) Wayne Bonnet (1,1) Evan Sarazen (1,1) Ryan Cousineau (0,2) Scott Henry (1,0) Craig ORegan (0,1) Brennan Sarazin (0,1) Brad Conlon (0,1) Adam Thrasher (0,1)