The last night of the Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) #MSLClassic had the Brooklin Lacrosse Club (7-1) face the Oakville Rock (2-6). While the Rock struggled a bit in this tournament, they were able to showcase players like Ryan Lanchbury, Dylan Watson, Sam English, and Zack Kearney, showing that the future is very bright. The goaltending tandem of Nick Rose and Craig Wende were also a source of strength throughout the tournament.
Brooklin had a very successful tournament using a little more seasoned lineup. Connor Kearnan, Jonathan Donville, Dan Michel, Ryan Keenan, Chris Boushy, and Jake Fox all had solid tournaments, and even though they were veterans, they were still quite young. Brooklin is definitely looking to regain the glory it has been known for over the years.
This game’s goaltending match-up had Craig Wende in net for the Rock, and Joel Watson for Brooklin.
First Quarter:
Oakville opened the scoring when Tanner Buck scooped and fired a shot past Watson at 1:59, but Brooklin answered right back by at 3:44 with Ty Thompson converting an Austin Murphy feed. Oakville regained the lead with another Tanner Buck goal at 6:06, but Brooklin again answered back when Ryan Keenan put a shot through traffic that beat Wende at 8:40. Brooklin took their first lead of the night when Ty Thompson scored his second goal of the night off a Jake Fox pass at 10:17, and that was how the quarter would come to an end.
After one quarter, Brooklin 3, Oakville 2.
Second Quarter:
The Rock opened the scoring in the second quarter when Tanner Buck flipped a beautiful pass from behind the net to Tye Argent, who made no mistake to tie the game just 0:45 seconds in. Brooklin came right back while playing 4 on 4, when Jake Fox scored at 2:50, and increased the lead just one minute later when Chris Boushy finished off a give and go from Dylan Riley, making the score 5-3.
Oakville kept pressing and were rewarded when Will Sheahan scored his first MSL career goal at 4:12 making it a one goal game again, but Adam Perroni converted a long lead pass from Jordi Jones-Smith at 7:35, then Kyle Waters put a shot just under the crossbar at 8:57. Will Sheahan scored his second of the night for Oakville on the power play with just 1:10 sending the Rock to the dressing room just down by two at the half.
At halftime, Brooklin 7, Oakville 5.
Third Quarter:
Brooklin changed up their goaltending at the start of the quarter, putting Riley Hutchcraft in net for Joel Watson.
Oakville got themselves in a bit of penalty trouble to start the third quarter, and Brooklin made them pay with two power play goals.
Chris Boushy opened the quarter’s scoring converting a Ryan Keenan pass at 2:04, then Kyle Waters scored also off a Keenan feed at 3:10 making the score 9-5. The Rock got one back in Transition when Bill Hostrawser found Devin Dunkerley, who beat Hutchcraft for his first MSL career goal at 8:20, then Tanner Buck scored his third of the game when he was able to find the loose ball in a scrum out front of the Brooklin net at 10:27.
After three quarters, Brooklin 9, Oakville 7.
Fourth Quarter:
The Rock changed goalies in the fourth giving rookie Adam Welsh a taste of MSL play.
Tanner Buck’s fourth goal of the night opened the fourth quarter scoring at 3:27, bringing this back to a one goal game, but two quick goals by Austin Murphy and Ryan Keenan made it a three goal game once again.
The Rock’s youthful lineup wouldn’t quit, and put together a run of their own. Will Sheahan scored a pair of goals for Oakville. First Sheahan converted a feed from Tanner Buck at 6:30, followed by a goal off a Steve Portelli pass at 7:16, and we were back to a one goal game once more.
The game was wide open at this point, with end to end action. Both teams getting good opportunities, but solid goaltending kept this a one goal game.
Oakville was finally able to break through when Tanner Buck scored his fifth of the night to tie the game at 12:12, making overtime a definite possibility in the final game of the MSL Classic tournament, but with just 0:34.3 seconds remaining, Ty Thompson scored in dramatic fashion to win the game for Brooklin.
Final score, Brooklin 12, Oakville 11.
Gary Groob has been involved with Lacrosse for the majority of his life, whether playing, coaching, or covering the sport for the media.
An avid fan, with a real drive about helping to “grow the game”, Gary became part of podcasts about the game in 2010. Through the podcasts, Mr. Groob was given an opportunity to write about lacrosse, and the rest as they say, is history.
Through many miles (flying and driving) Gary has made inroads with the National Lacrosse League, Major Series Lacrosse League, the Ontario Lacrosse Association, as well as the Arena Lacrosse League, covering the leagues, their teams, and players, working for, and in concert with all of them.
In the year 2020, Mr. Groob was made the media person for the Arena Lacrosse League, voted onto the board of directors of the Brampton Excelsiors Lacrosse Club, as well as being made administrator of the Lacrosse page “Global Lacrosse” with a membership of 9000 members in over 90 Countries. Gary was also made an administrator of Lacrosse History Past Present and Future in 2022.
Mr. Groob co-hosts a weekly Lacrosse show on Spanglish Sports World, and ZingoTV channel 250, as well as writes a weekly lacrosse column for La Portada Canada News (both in print, and online).
Gary also hosts a Lacrosse talk show and podcast for The Edge of Philly Sports Network, seen live Sunday nights at 9pm (ET), and archived on the Edge of Philly YouTube page, as well as Spotify.
Mr. Groob’s other sports interests include Hockey, Football, Boxing, Wrestling, and Baseball, competing competitively in Boxing and Wrestling for many years.
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