TORONTO, ON (June 9, 2024) — The Toronto Beaches finished off a stretch of four games in seven days spotless, defeating the Orangeville Northmen 13-6 on Sunday night at Tony Rose Arena.
Veteran Beaches Forwards Matt Collison and Willem Firth tallied eight and nine points, respectively, leading the Beaches’ attack on the night, with Connor Nock, Caden Hewitt, and Chris Harland locking things down the back end.
Goaltender Thomas Kiazyk, although not keeping his goal streak alive, held things down in the cage and bolstered a 40-save game with a .870 save percentage.
Both ends of the floor were locked down in the first half of the opening period, until the 8:35 mark, when Collison marched his way through the Hornheads to nab his first. Firth made his mark on the game shortly after, nipping his first o the power play with 1:12 left to play. Collision closed out the period late, grabbing his second of the game off a fantastic one-handed pass from Greg Palmer.
Toronto went into the first intermission up three after holding Orangeville off the scoresheet through 20.
The Beaches would come out the gates like a raging bull in the second, scoring another three unanswered goals. Credits go to Collison with a short-handed snag and to Palmer and Liam Aston, who both scored for their firsts of the game.
Vince Onofrio broke the seal of the Northmen at the 11:07 mark, and Aiden Long got Orangeville their second a short minute later, cutting the Beaches’ lead to four. Firth ended that mini-run, intercepting a pass deep in the Northmen’s end and outwaiting the goalie for his second, killing any momentum the Northmen had. Three-and-a-half minutes later, the Hornheads would respond with Liam Matthews burying.
Just over a minute later, Hamish McPherson sent a one-handed pass off the end boards into Firth’s stick, and he tiptoed the crease and scored to grab Toronto’s second short-handed goal of the game. Cam Sanderson closed out the second period by grabbing one for Orangeville with 3.2 seconds to play.
Looking to keep the perfect season alive, the Beaches carried an 8-4 advantage into the final frame.
A pair of goals would swing Toronto’s way to open the third period, with Aston dunking one over Goaltender Zach Richards for his second and Firth ripping a bouncer for his fourth. Trey Deere wasted no time getting one back, scoring 20 seconds after Firth.
But the Beaches finished the game strong, with Collison and Firth both getting on the board for the final time. Max Kruger of the Northmen netted his first career goal in the late goings before McPherson closed out the scoring on a penalty shot with 16 seconds left to play.
Despite the game getting scrappy towards the end, the Beaches were able to weather any late comeback attempts to stay undefeated on the year.
Now sitting at 8-0, the Beaches look ahead to a back-to-back that will see them head to the TRAC for a showdown with the Oakville Buzz before returning home on Thursday to welcome the K-W Lacrosse Club to Ted Reeve Arena.
Opening face-off in Oakville is set for 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday.