Redmen roll again with win over St. Regis

July 08, 2008 - 03:46

By Shawn Cayley

WHITBY -- The first-place Brampton Excelsiors ought to be happy they don't encounter the Brooklin Redmen at any point this week.

Okay, maybe that's a stretch, but there is no denying Brooklin is playing some pretty impressive lacrosse right now.

Nearly a week ago, the Redmen found themselves floundering at the bottom of the Major Series Lacrosse standings, owners of a 3-8 mark, with games against the Peterborough Lakers and St. Regis Indians, two of the other top three teams in the league, on the horizon.

The safe bet would have been to assume the Redmen would start this week off, heading into tonight's game against Barrie, at a 3-10 clip.

But they had other ideas, beating Peterborough last Thursday by a 10-7 count, and following that up with an 11-10 victory over St. Regis on Sunday.

The two huge wins have erased the memory of a five-game losing streak that forced the Redmen to the bottom of the standings and head coach Peter Vipond said he has seen a big change in his club over the last few days in comparison to what had been seen during their struggles.

"We never really led until the very end and our guys continue to get better and gain the confidence to know they can play with anybody now," said a very happy Vipond. "They are having fun, they're laughing, having a good time, and that's important."

As they have on many a night, and certainly during their five wins, the Redmen youngsters stepped up in a big way Sunday. Steve Hutchins scored twice and had six points, as did Kyle O'Brien, while Derek Hopcroft added a pair of goals. But as usual, captain Shawn Williams led the parade, scoring twice and notching seven points in the victory.

And though Vipond was thrilled with both wins, he has quickly turned his focus towards the next three games, two of which are against Barrie (tonight and Saturday) and one against Kitchener-Waterloo (Thursday).

"The next few are huge," he said. "They are all four-point games. We want to stay ahead of Barrie and try to catch Kitchener."

Heading into play last night Kitchener was 6-6-1 and three points up on the Redmen, while last place Barrie was 3-9-1, and three points back with Six Nations planted in between the two.

Dave Campbell with two and Jason Mainer also scored goals Sunday, while collectively, the Redmen defence and goalie Kurtis Wagar limited star John Tavares to two goals and five points after the legend had compiled five goals and 16 points in two previous wins over Brooklin.

Tonight's face off against Barrie goes at 8 p.m. at Iroquois Park.

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