PETERBOROUGH, ON (May 27, 2024) — The Toronto Beaches kept it rolling to open the season on the road on Monday night, carrying a strong first-period effort to a 15-7 victory over the Peterborough Lakers at Memorial Arena.
Greg Palmer led the Beaches in their statement win, tallying his first sock trick of the season accompanied by two assists.
Matt Collison would be back in the blue and yellow for the first time this season, and he had a game of his own, racking up eight points from three goals and five assists.
Within the first two minutes, Palmer grabbed his first of six while opening the onslaught of goals to come in the first. The Beaches went on an eight-goal run, with both Collison and Palmer double dipping. Goals would also be credited to David Peterkin, Peyton Booth, Willem Firth, and Liam Aston.
Peterborough managed to grab one before the end of the first, with Brendan Marino getting the last touch.
The Beaches took an 8-1 advantage into the first intermission.
Four minutes into the second period, Alexander Hicks of the Jr. Lakers opened the scoring. Beaches goaltender Thomas Kiazyk would respond by launching a ball down the floor and into the stick of Palmer, where he would net his third with a shorthanded goal. Colby Wood responded promptly for Peterborough.
The Beaches would go on a two-goal run, with goals coming from Hunter Lubiniecki and Palmer. Matthew Drimmie grabbed Peterborough their last of the period at the 10-minute mark, however, Palmer closed out the second by notching his fifth of the game.
Peterborough would follow in their second-period footsteps and open the scoring in the final frame of the game. But Beaches forward Issac Wills would grab his first of the game on the power play, with a nice move and shot to beat Peterborough goalie Gavin Williamson. The two teams traded two goals each to end the game. Collsion etched his first hat trick of the season, while Palmer would nab the sock trick to close out the game after he opened the scoring a short 58 minutes earlier.
Now sitting at 3-0 to open the 2024 season, the Beaches will head back to Ted Reeve arena on Thursday to close out the season series with the St. Catharines Athletics, with the opening face-off scheduled for 8:00 p.m ET.
Thursday is also Beaches Lacrosse Minor Night with all minor players getting free admission to the game. There will also be a team-signed jersey raffle and a post-game autograph session with the team.