WHITBY, ON (May 16, 2023) — The Toronto Beaches opened their 2023 campaign on the right foot, beating the Whitby Warriors 11-9 at Iroquois Park on Tuesday night.
Greg Palmer and Willem Firth shined in the victory, scoring eight and seven points, respectively, while combining for eight goals on the night.
Andrew Kidd helped to push his team to victory, turning away 60 shots in a standout performance to open the year.
Toronto opened the game with goals from Firth and Palmer, but their tallies were answered by goals from Lucas Littlejohn and Treysen Stewart. But Palmer’s second gave the Beaches a 3-2 lead before Hunter Lubiniecki piled on with his first Junior A goal to give the visitors a two-goal advantage after the opening 20 minutes.
Whitby came out hot to open the second, scoring three of the first four goals. Stewart got his second of the evening, and after Jacob Hickey pushed the lead back to two, goals from Littlejohn and Jake Darlison knotted the game at five.
The Beaches’ coaching staff called a timeout on the heels of the run, and that looked to be a turning point for the team at that part of the game.
Firth pushed Toronto back in front by two with back-to-back goals, and he was followed by markers from Palmer and Lubiniecki.
Lubiniecki’s second of the game came off a beautiful play from Hickey, where the Beaches’ captain got past his defender with a swim move and fed the righty on the back post for the quick-stick finish.
With just a period left, the Beaches held a 9-5 lead on the road.
“The timeout in the second was huge for us. The coaching staff really calmed us down and we came out and had a run of our own,” defender Caden Hewitt said post-game. “It really helped us out defensively in the back half of the second when we were struggling a bit. And then in the third period, we weathered the storm and finished strong, so that’s all you can ask for.”
The hosts cut into that lead once again to start the third, as Ryan Langille, Riley Knox, and Robert Baxter scored three straight to make it a one-goal game with 12 minutes to play. But once again, Toronto had the answer. It came from their two offensive leaders.
Firth scored his fourth on the Power Play and Palmer put the game away with a bullet from the outside.
“I just love these boys,” Palmer said. “A lot of them, I’ve been growing up playing with. I think we looked really good and we’ve still got a lot of guys that are coming back. But this core group right now has been looking really good and I’m excited to see what we can do.”
A late goal from Darlison was all that Whitby could muster in the final minutes, and the Beaches were able to salt away the clock to come out with the 11-9 win.
Moving to 1-0 for the year, the Beaches will return to action on Thursday, when they welcome Whitby to Pickering Rec Complex for the team’s home opener. Opening face-off is set for 8:00 p.m. ET.