The early finals of the Greater Sudbury Lacrosse Association (GSLA) playoff weekend may not have provided much drama but those who stuck around for the 4 p.m. games were in for quite a treat.
At the McLelland Arena in Copper Cliff, Tristan Simeoni netted his second goal of the game with just 1:08 remaining as the Bandits edged the Rush 6-5 in the bantam championship affair.
With the teams tied at two after 15 minutes of play, the Bandits outscored the Rush 3-1 in the middle frame, holding a two-goal lead into the final two minutes before Tyler Smith and Thomas Faggioni connected just 11 seconds apart, deadlocking the game at 5-5.
Nicholas Chokan added a hat trick for the Bandits, with Tyler Coutu chipping in with a solo marker, while Tyler Michaud, with a pair, and Camilo Rodrigue-Melo rounded out the scoring for the Rush.
Over at the Carmichael Arena, time ran out on the Rock Peewees, falling 5-4 to the Rush as the contest ended with the Rock holding a five-on-three advantage.
With the Rush holding a 4-3 lead in the third, Jamie Wahamaa netted his second goal of the game on the power play, increasing the advantage to a pair of goals.
But penalty troubles for the Rush in the dying minutes made things interesting as Peter Nykilchuk pulled the Rock to within one, scoring on the first half of a double minor with just 24 seconds showing of the clock.
The Rush were tagged with another penalty with seven seconds to play, but there simply wasn't enough time for the Rock to engineer much of a scoring chance. Spencer Lavallee joined Wahamaa with a two-goal performance, with Matthew Dupuis completing the attack while Nykilchuk and Justin Basso recorded two goals each in a losing cause.
In the novice final, the Wings were backstopped by the shutout netminding of Chloe Douillette and a balanced attack, bouncing the Swarm 6-0. Hunter Brazier scored twice to lead the way, with Andrew Demers, Kevin Watson and Bradley Bertrand adding a goal apiece.
In the tyke gold medal game, the Roughnecks exploded for five goals in the third period, breaking open a relatively tight game and posting a 9-2 win over the Bandits.
The one-two punch of Nikolas Harry and Mathieu Boucher grabbed the spotlight, accounting for seven goals as Harry netted four and Boucher chipped in with three. Noah Brazier and Andrew Marois added a goal each while Caleb Langlois and Jack Moskalyk countered for the Bandits.
Though the weekend action wrapped up the house league portion of the lacrosse season, the Rockhounds rep teams will be busy for a couple of months yet. This stretch includes the annual Nickel City Shootout as Sudbury welcomes teams from across the province to town for plenty of action on the weekend of July 6 to 8.
Posted by Laurel Myers
