The Toronto Beaches got their first victory of the OJLL season on Wednesday with a nice road effort over the St. Catharine’s Athletics.
I was in attendance at the Canada Summer Games Arena (which is beautiful by the way) and called the game alongside my broadcast Matthew Caruk. The full stream can be found below.
Let’s get into a few takeaways from the contest.
No Rust For Firth
The story of the game was undoubtedly the play of Willem Firth, who scored 5 goals and added three assists in his return back to the OJLL. Coming off a 34 point Freshmen season at Cornell, Firth showed no rust in this one, scoring one minute and 12 seconds into the contest, and adding another goal and assist within the first seven minutes of the game.
Most impressive were the several caused turnovers he had in the game, one of which led directly to a goal.
Beaches won the possession battle throughout the game by earning shot-clock resets and extra possessions. Firth was the reason for a lot of them, and was the primary reason that Beaches was victorious.
Firth and Mimico’s Finn Thomson are two of the best returning players in recent memory of Junior A. Their race for the scoring title will be one to monitor all season.
Beaches Wins Transition Battle
One of the stories of St. Catharine’s season opening victory on Friday was the transition goals that the Athletics created, including this one from defender Julian Race.
Beaches one that battle in this game, scoring multiple goals in transition, often with the second, third, and fourth players down the floor.
Especially at Canada Games Arena (where the benches are fairly far down the rink), transition defence will be at a premium. It’s early in the season and these are the things that all teams need to clean up. But the Beach won this round.
Kiazyk Avoids the NLL-OJLL Slump
As we have noted on the broadcasts, young goaltenders returning from the NLL back to the OJLL can sometimes have a difficult time adjusting. Beaches goaltender spent the season with the Saskatchewan Rush and appeared in three games for the Rush. It was fair to wonder how he would look in his return to summer lacrosse.
He answered that question resoundingly, as he really locked in and shifted the game in his team’s favor.
After allowing two goals in the first five minutes, he slammed the door shut and allowed just five goals over the last 55 minutes of the game. While it looked like the Athletics may have made a brief push for the lead in the third period, Kiazyk made several key saves to maintain the comfortable lead and ensure that Beaches cruised in the third period.
If he can maintain that form throughout the season, Beaches have to be considered among the title contenders in the OJLL.
Left side! Strong Side!
Still missing from the Beaches lineup are left-handed forwards Matt Collison and Hamish McPherson. Collison was today named a USILA third team all-american for his work at Johns Hopkins and McPherson is still with the Maryland Terrapins as they prepare for Championship Weekend.
In this game, Jr. B callups Isaac Wills and Ryan Gonzalves both handled themselves very well. Gonzalves finished with a hat-trick and Wills showed great chemistry with Firth, ending with a goal and 3 assists.
Here was the first from Gonzalves.
And the first from Wills.
This is going to be a tough lineup and tough left-side to crack as the summer wears on, but should be a real strength for Beaches. With a great mix of veteran talent and fresh blood, the left-side of the offence will be one of the most formidable in the entire country.
That’s all for today, join Matt and I and the rest of the OJLL broadcast crew again tonight for the contest between Oakville and Whitby.
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