ST. CATHARINES, ON (May 22nd, 2024) — The Toronto Beaches started the season in the win column with a 12-7 win over The St. Catharines Athletics Wednesday night.
Forward Willem Firth led the beaches with a dominant performance bolstering an impressive eight-point night, consisting of five goals and three assists. Rookie Ryan Gonsalves had a night of his own, recording both his first career OJLL goal and OJLL hat-trick.
Goaltender Thomas Kaizyk played all 60 minutes between the pipes for the Beaches, turning away 40 shots for his first win with Toronto.
Shortly after the opening face-off, the Beaches found themselves on the board with a goal from Willem Firth, notching his first of five on the night. Keaton Zavitz of the Athletics would answer back less than two minutes later. However, Isaac Wills put the beaches back up by one with his first goal dawning the blue and yellow. The A’s would answer quickly once again with a goal from Cody McNeil, tying the game at two.
The Beaches would go on a four-goal run, seeing Firth grab his second, Greg Palmer notching his first of the season, as well as Gonsalves double-dipping with two straight markers. St. Catharines would score the final goal of the first period, with credits going to Colton Armitage.
St. Catharines opened the scoring halfway through the second, with Noah Simpson putting the ball in the back of the net. Firth responded accordingly, grabbing his third of the game. But the Athletics would go on the powerplay and capitalize after an Illegal Cross-Checking penalty.
Toronto would respond with three unanswered goals to close out the second period. Firth grabbed his fourth, Gonsalves secured the hat-trick, and Peyton Booth scored on a runner to get his first of 2024.
The Beaches would enter the second intermission leading the Athletics 10-5.
The Athletics would open the scoring with an unassisted goal from Ryan Andrews. However, Owen Wills got that goal back with an unassisted goal of his own in transition – which was his first career Junior A goal, giving both Wills brothers a goal on the night. St. Catharines would score once more, but Firth closed out the game with a quick-stick finish to put an exclamation on a dominant 2024 debut for the fourth-year man.
Now sitting at 1-0 for the season, the Beaches will head back to Toronto for their home opener on Friday in what will be the first game at Ted Reeve Arena in just under two years.
The Beaches welcome the defending Minto Cup champion Burlington Blaze to The Sand Box, with opening face-off set for 8:00 p.m. ET. Friday’s game is Beaches Minor Lacrosse Night, with minor players gaining free admission to the contest. There will also be a tailgate at Ted Reeve Park before the game, with food and games for fans to take part in.