PICKERING, ON (June 20, 2023) — The Toronto Beaches got back in the win column on Tuesday night, beating the Peterborough Lakers 13-4 at Pickering Rec Centre.
The team once again got massive outings from Willem Firth (3G, 6A) and Matt Collison (5G, 2A), while Greg Palmer (1G, 5A), Hamish McPherson (3G), and Peyton Booth (4A) also had strong nights.
Andrew Kidd played a majority of the contest before being lifted for Carson McLean in the dying minutes. He finished with 25 saves while picking up his seventh victory of the campaign.
While the Beaches carried most of the momentum, Peterborough stayed competitive off the hop, with Nicholas Roode opening the scoring at the 17:56 mark. It took some time for the Beaches to get into full gear, but back-to-back goals from Collison and McPherson jumped the hosts into the lead.
Tom Collins — who had four goals the last time these teams met — tied the game up at two with 5:31 left in the first, but another two-goal run courtesy of Firth and Collison put Toronto ahead 4-2 after 20 minutes.
From there, the momentum remained with the Beaches. McPherson and Collison started the second with tallies to make it a four-goal run, and despite a Roode marker to pull Peterborough closer, the Beaches rallied off three more from McPherson, Jacob Hickey, and Collison to drive the score to 9-3. Nick DiLaurio got a late power-play marker with 20 seconds left in the frame to make it a five-goal game with a period to play.
The Beaches’ defence — along with Kidd and McLean — would lock things down from there though, not allowing a goal in the final 20 minutes of play. The offence would salt things away, with Collison getting his fifth of the night, Firth completing his hat trick with a pair, and Greg Palmer getting his first of the night to end the game in dominant fashion.
Moving to 7-7 on the season, the Beaches have grown into their home-away-from-home in Pickering, railing off four straight victories in the Sand Box. They’ll return to their home for a matchup against the Burlington Blaze on Thursday night before getting nearly a week off.