Athletics impressive in hammering Six Nations

The St. Catharines Athletics put together their finest 60-minute performance of the season, and in so doing knocked off the defending Minto Cup Champion Six Nations Arrows in impressive fashion.

The A’s led from start to finish in a 12-4 thrashing of the Arrows in OLA junior A play.

Alex Simmons and Jake McNabb both scored hat-tricks for St. Catharines, but it was goaltender Nick Damude who stole the show.

The 19-year old Pelham native and Mohawk College Electrical Engineering student made 42 saves including two in the opening minute that set the tone for the rest of the game.

Damude’s first stop of the night came off the stick of arguably the best junior A lacrosse player in Canada, and most likely the best junior player in the world — Austin Staats.

“That went off my head,” said Damude who improved to 6-3 on the season with an impressive 6.52 goals against average and .862 save-percentage.

“Those first two saves, I got them out of the way, they were likely my hardest saves of the game.”

And Damude mixed up his game-day routine on Wednesday. Instead of working his regular job at a local landscaping firm, he visited schools across Niagara promoting the game of lacrosse and the Athletics for the upcoming Lacrosse Day in Niagara.

“The day off work helped,” said a smiling Damude, who was joined on the school trips with captain Latrell Harris and Brett Erskine.

“I think visiting the schools kept my mind on lacrosse all day, I had a stick in my hand all day, plus we had a nice meal.

“I think the upcoming lacrosse day is great for Niagara. We haven’t had the best junior pro-

grams the past few years so I think getting a lot more kids playing, and picking up sticks, is always good for our area.”

A’s head coach Steve Toll who has sung the praises of Damude all season long admitted the veteran goaltender was the difference to start the game.

“Nicky was huge, just big time, early,” Toll said. “He was real good. They could have had six or seven (goals) in the first period. That guy (Staats) changes up his shot, he changes his stick — he’s ridiculous — and for him (Damude) to make those saves early he was in a zone tonight.”

The Athletics led 4-1 after one period of play, and 9-3 heading into the third despite being outshot 46-41 overall.

“That was by far our best game of the season,” said Toll. “We came in with a little game plan, obviously when you’re playing Austin Staats, one of the best players in the game, you’ve got to come up with a game plan, and we worked it to a tee.”

Toll, the Athletics all-time leading scorer, is enthusiastic heading into Saturday’s Lacrosse Day in Niagara as former teammate, close friend and head coach of the Whitby Warriors Shawn Williams will be in town for the game.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Toll said. “Obviously playing (against) good friend Shawn Williams — it’s going to be a special day.”

The Athletics improved to (7-4) on the season with the win, while Six Nations dropped to a surprising (5-6).

Lacrosse Day in Niagara festivities begin at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon, before the A’s welcome the Warriors at 7 p.m.

A’s Acorns: McNabb is a former Six Nation Arrow … Arrows starting goaltender Drayden Patey played for the Athletics last season … Staats entered the game with 28 goals and 27 assists in nine games, and had a goal and two helpers Wednesday night before being ejected midway through the third period … Gavin McGregor (Welland Generals)

ATHLETICS 12 ARROWS 4

Standard Star of the Game: Athletics goaltender Nick Damude with 42 saves.

For St. Catharines: Jake McNabb 3 (28), Alex Simmons 3 (13), Kealon Pilon 2 (6), Brett Erskine 2 (6) Carter Zavitz (13) and Owen Friesen (3).

For Six Nations: Austin Staats, Jeremy Bomberry, Kevin Owen Hill and Travis Longboat.

Game Stats: Shots on goal by the Arrows on Nick Damude (46); by the Athletics on Drayden Patey

was the lone callup for the A’s … Williams is the Brock Badgers and Owen Dew (41).

Penalty Minutes: St. Catharines (15); Six Nations (68) Powerplays: Athletics 4-for-8; Arrows 2-for-3

Attendance: 534

Up Next: The A’s welcome the Whitby Warriors this Saturday night in the third annual Lacrosse Day in Niagara. Festivies begin at 4:00 pm, followed by the Athletics game at 7 p.m. Both Jack Gatecliff and Rex Stimers Arenas will be used.

all-time leading field lacrosse scorer.