A’s pushed to brink of elimination
St. Catharines plays must-win game against Chiefs tonight in Burlington
Only two points separated the Burlington Chiefs and the St. Catharines Athletics over the 20-game regular season.
Four games into a best-of-seven Ontario Lacrosse Association junior A semifinal, that gap widened to three games after Burlington defeated St. Catharines 9-6 Wednesday night at Jack Gatecliff Arena, pushing the A’s to the brink of elimination.
Game 5 in the second-round series goes tonight in Burlington, where the No. 2 seed Chiefs will have their first opportunity to advance to their first-ever final with a victory over the thirdseeded Athletics.
Going on to face either the Orangeville Northmen or Brampton Excelsiors in a best-ofseven final is a much taller order for the Double Blue. In addition to staving off elimination with a win tonight, they need to score victories in Game 6 Sunday night back at The Jack and in the seventh game the following night at Central Arena in Burlington.
Athletics general manager Jeff Chcoski gave the Chiefs full credit for the win.
“I thought they played really well. They scored when they needed to score,” he said. “When they got the lead, they never really let us get back into it.
“Full props to Burlington and their team and their coaching staff for their effort tonight.”
Chcoski was disappointed with the result though not with his team’s compete level.
‘‘ “I think everyone knows what they have to do. We just have to refocus.” JEFF CHCOSKI St. Catharines Athletics general manager
“They came. They worked hard,” he said.
“I think our boys competed hard, but we just couldn’t get the ball behind (Drew) Hutchinson like we would have liked to tonight.”
Instead of holding a practice on Thursday, the A’s decided to give players the day off.
“I think everyone knows what they have to do. We just have to refocus,” Chcoski said. “We have to go in there and, while it’s a cliché that I don’t like to give, our backs are against the wall, we have to win every period and try to bring this thing home for Sunday night.”
St. Catharines was outshot 51-46 and went 1-for-7 on the power play while holding Burlington scoreless on five power plays.
The Double Blue lost its third playoff game in a row despite goals from Jake McNabb, with two, and Liam Ham, Brayden Mayea, Kealan Pilon and Saul Van Der Zalm.
Burlington rebounded from a 12-7 loss at home with a 6-5 win in triple overtime on the road and a come-from-behind victory at home in Game 3, also by a 6-5 score. All six Chiefs goals in Monday night’s game were scored on special teams: two on the power play; four, short-handed.
Chcoski suggested a lack of attention to details hurt the A’s Monday night in Burlington.
“Let’s call a spade a spade: in 20 games we gave up five shorthanded goals all year. It was just one of these nights when we didn’t pay attention to detail. You have to do all the small things, especially when you’re in a series like this against a very good team.
“Burlington is a very good lacrosse team. They have eight guys who can score on offence, the defence plays tough, and they have a good goalie and they’re coached well.”
The Northmen doubled Excelsiors 6-3 in Brampton Wednesday night to take a 3-1 lead in the other semifinal. Game 5 is tonight in Orangeville.
The A’s are hoping to advance past the second round of the playoffs for the first time since winning their sixth Minto Cup Canadian championship in 2003.
NOTES: Ian Rubel, who was aided by fellow assistants Brad
Favero and Rob Taylor, filled in for Athletics head coach Steve
Toll, who was serving the first game of a three-game suspension. … Owen Friesen and
Kealan Pilon were back in the Athletics lineup after missing Game 3. … Alex Simmons remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury.