History of the A's

Major Athletics Last Home Game

PLAYOFF THRILLER AT THE BILL BURGOYNE ARENA

by GARY GARDELL

Thursday July 28, 2005

ST. CATHARINES – The preamble to tonight's St. Catharines Athletics – Six Nations Chiefs playoff game had all the makings of a terrific battle. These two teams had three very close and at times heated encounters during the regular season and a late come-from-behind rally in this playoff series opener gave the Chiefs the initial edge. Tonight's 10 - 9 overtime win by the visiting S.N. Chiefs pushes that edge into a stranglehold as the A's now face the uphill prospects of winning three out of three if they plan to move on into the next round. 

The Chiefs came out flying in this game and built a 3 – 0 lead before the game was 4 minutes old. Darryl Gibson started them off at 1:12, followed by a Clay Hill short-handed marker just 32 seconds later, then capped off by a Mike Longboat shot from the corner of King and James that somehow fooled A’s starting goalie Matt Roik. 

With the Six Nations enjoying a two man advantage with Doug Lawrence and Billy Dee Smith both in the box, the Chiefs usually accurate shooting seemed a little off at this point as they fired several blistering shots at about head-height over the A’s net. Matt Roik didn’t seem his normal sensational self from the opening whistle and some of his frustration boiled over at the 10:39 mark when he got tagged with a 2-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty plus a ten-minute misconduct. 

Into the game entered Matt Vinc at a point when things seemed pretty dire for the home side. But the Canisius College graduate and future high NLL draft-pick played some solid goal and settled down the A’s at a time they really needed it. 

The Athletics then scored a couple on very similar long shots. The first one was credited to #9 Doug Lawrence on the powerplay (funny how he can look so much like #90 Mike Hominuck when he wants to), and the second came from rookie Andy Rohmer less than two minutes later. 

The A’s seemed to have weathered an early Six Nation storm and escaped the first period down by just a goal. 

Score after one period: Six Nations 3, St. Catharines 2. 

The opening minutes of the second period seemed much like the later stages of the first with play fairly conservative and evenly matched. But every so often, the Chiefs would seem to get on a roll where they suddenly get a lot of confidence and begin to fly all over the place, and their opposition would seem to be rattled by all the proceedings. Speedy Clay Hill of the Chiefs would score his second short-handed goal of the night at 7:22, and suddenly the Chiefs were on fire again. 

Big Troy Bonterre did some outstanding work killing off much of the remainder of the penalty and actually drew a holding penalty from the A’s Billy Dee Smith. On the ensuing powerplay, the Chiefs snapped off a series of sweet lateral passes that ended with a Delby Powless goal and another 3-goal lead. 

But the A’s seemed to bounce back again and somehow deflate the visitor’s momentum. Andy Rohmer would notch a couple more to give him a well-deserved hat-trick (after a good two goal night at S. N. on Tuesday), before the versatile Shawn Wilkins would tie the score at 5 at 15:36 of the second period. It was evident that the periodic surge of a Six Nations hurricane would eventually be met by a steady wind shift from the unrelenting Athletics. 

Buffalo Bandit Delby Powless would sneak open at a point when the A’s seemed to be looking for a pass to the cutting Kim Squires and the Six Nations Chiefs would go to the dressing room with their lead restored. 

Score after two periods: Six Nations 6, St. Catharines 5. 

Billy Dee Smith can bring the pulse rates soaring with his daring solo rushes and would do exactly that with a goal at 1:10 of period three to tie it at 6. But it took just another 26 seconds for the scrappy Brock Boyle of the Chiefs to get that one back. 

These two teams would continue to trade goals into the third. Wilkins would absolutely rip a shot from 35 feet to tie it at 7. Roger Vyce would make a nice over-the-shoulder shot from 15 feet out that beat Vinc for yet another short-handed Chiefs goal. Then the determined Billy Dee Smith would beat Ken Montour with a powerplay goal at 12:09 and we were tied again. 

The A’s would come from behind five times on this night to tie the score but at no point could they manage to get the lead. Ill-timed penalties to Drew Candy (double-minor) and to Brian Bowman would keep goalie Vinc playing guardian at the gate through the late stages of the third and he was up to the task for everything that the Chiefs threw at him. 

Score after three periods: Six Nations 8, St. Catharines 8. 

Playoffs…overtime…two fairly even teams playing their hearts out…man, does it get any better! It was the time for heroes, for grit, for emotion, and for sublime effort. 

Mike Longboat is one player who can launch a lacrosse ball like a thunder-clap and has often scored from the perimeter. But in the overtime period of this night, he would score two decisive goals by sliding the ball from in close past a hapless Matt Vinc. The first would come after Kyle Jamieson would steal a long, down-floor desperation pass and quickly feed the ball back to Longboat in the clear. The second and eventual winner came at 3:28 when he cut in from a sharp angle and rolled the ball under Vinc. Between these goals, the A’s would score one on a nice solo effort by Billy LeFeuvre, but the home-side could not get another past the solid goaltending of Ken Montour. 

Final score: Six Nations Chiefs 10, St. Catharines Athletics 9 

The goal scorers… 

For St. Catharines: Rohmer (3), Smith (2), Wilkins (2), Lawrence, Le Feuvre. 

For Six Nations: Longboat (3), Clay Hill (2), Powless (2), Gibson, Vyce, Boyle. 

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