Having already secured a berth in the Zone 8 ‘C’ championship with three straight wins, Milton’s intermediate lacrosse players had nothing motivating them for last week’s round-robin finale against Fergus.
Thus a 5-4 loss wasn’t worth getting too concerned about, as the Mavericks — resurrected this summer after a lengthy hiatus — would prove the following night.
Within the friendly confines of John Tonelli Sports Centre August 11, Milton grabbed an early lead that they never relinquished on the way to a 4-2 title triumph over the Thistles.
Part of a sturdy goaltending tandem with John Grant, Brad Mewhinney held the visitors off the scoreboard until the third period and added a number of big saves down the stretch to preserve the low-scoring victory.
Offensively, Doug Kay netted his playoff-leading ninth and 10th goals — the latter an unassisted tally that restored a two-goal advantage with 10:27 remaining — while Brad Kitchen contributed a goal and an assist.
Rounding out the scoring was Devin Medland.
Three of the Mavericks’ four goals came on the powerplay, which followed an opportunistic trend through the late stages of the season.
“Lately that had been a strength of ours. We’ve got some guys who can move the ball well and our powerplay had been clicking,” said head coach Kenny Whetham.
Fergus’s two goals both came with the man-advantage, but Milton managed to stay composed at crunch time — finishing with just 12 penalty minutes overall compared to 59 for the Thistles.
Unable to carry their winning ways into this past weekend’s Ontario ‘C’ championships in St. Catharines, the Mavericks suffered a quick two-and-out exit at the double-knockout tournament — losing 7-3 and 6-5 to Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie respectively.
Jack Eagles scored all five goals in the latter defeat.
