TORONTO, ON (June 13th, 2023) — The Toronto Beaches headed back to Ted Reeve Arena for the second half of their doubleheader in a matchup up against the Kitchener-Waterloo Lacrosse Club. With a couple of players out of the lineup and a 10-0 start on the horizon, the Beach Boys dug deep with a 12-7 win on Thursday night.
Goaltender Thomas Kiazyk shut the door on the night, keeping K-W to just three goals on 30 shots during the first two periods before Nick Parolin stepped in to close out the night.
Willem Firth led the team in scoring with a total of four goals on the night, as well as a single assist for a total of five points. Greg Palmer was just behind with four points from one goal and three assists.
Defender Jack Woynarski turned on the burners, scoring the first two goals of his Junior A career while locking down the back end.
It took less than two minutes for Nathan Ward to open the scoring in The Sandbox to give K-W the early lead. Six minutes later, Firth nabbed his first of four with a goal on the man advantage. Lowen Martin answered back with an unassisted goal, putting the lead back into K-W’s hands. The Beaches, in turn, would see two more goals to close out the first frame of the game – Palmer and David Peterkin grabbed the two unassisted tallies.
Toronto held a 3-2 lead heading into the first intermission.
Woynarski started the second period off hot, getting one behind K-W Goaltender Bryce Wismer to snag his first. A minute later, Defender Caden Hewitt found Firth with a pass, and the Beaches captain buried with a rocket from a distance. Peyton Booth continued the scoring for the Beaches, making it a three-goal run in the opening six minutes of the second.
Kitchener-Waterloo shut down the three-goal run at the 12:20 mark, as Cal Brennan got the last touch.
Firth recovered his own rebound and outwaited the goalie, notching another hat-trick on the season. Kiazyk launched a ball down the floor and into the hands of Woynarski, who delivered with a nice move, scoring his second of the frame.
With 1:33 to go in the period, Beaches found themselves down a man, however, Hamish McPherson chalked one all by himself, scoring on a running shot from the outside. With four seconds to go, Kiazyk, once again put a ball on the money, this time to David Peterkin in stride, and he deposited it into the net to give Toronto a seven-goal lead with 20 minutes left to seal the deal.
Parolin started the third between the pipes, relieving Kiazyk. And Toronto continued their run to open the period, with Firth and Booth continuing the run to open the period.
Kitchener-Waterloo closed out the game with four goals – two of which were on the power play. However, that wasn’t enough to close the gap, as the Beaches saw the game through to win 12-7, pushing them into double-digit wins for the summer.
Toronto heads to Brampton on June 16 to take on the Excelsiors for the final meeting in the regular season. Opening face-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET at the Brampton Memorial Arena.