Visiting Rock snap Rivermen win streak

An impressive winning streak the Six Nations Rivermen had strung together to start their Ontario Series Lacrosse season has finally come to an end. The Rivermen had registered victories in their first 11 regular season matches this year. The Six Nations squad, however, tasted defeat for the first time this season on Thursday. The Rivermen were downed 8-6 by the visiting Oakville Rock in the contest held at the Six Nations Sports and Cultural Memorial Centre.

“It was a sloppy game,” said Rivermen head coach Darcy Powless. “We had no intensity. It just wasn’t our game tonight.”

Six Nations managed to score just once in the opening 20 minutes of action and found itself trailing 3-1 heading into the first intermission. The Rivermen faced an even larger deficit, three goals, heading into the third period as they were down 6-3. Though the Six Nations squad did manage to tie the game at 6-6 in the final period, the Rivermen were not able to score any more goals in the last 12 minutes of the contest.

The Rock did manage to score twice more, including the game-winner on the powerplay with just under six minutes remaining in the match. Oakville added an insurance marker about a minute later.

Though he was obviously disappointed with the loss, Powless was pleased his team doesn’t have to wait too long before it returns to action.

“Luckily we’ll get back on the floor Sunday versus Brooklin,” he said.

The Rivermen will host the Oshawa-based Merchants’ club at in a match, which has a 6 p.m. opening faceoff. Powless is hoping a much different Rivermen club will show up for that affair.

“We look to get back to our usual game and pace,” he said. Powless added there were some positives from Thursday’s outing, including the play of Rivermen netminder Dusty Hill. “Dusty and the defence played well,” Powless said. “Eight goals against is a good game still.” Powless estimated his charges also hit between 12-15 goalposts with their shots. “Some days the ball doesn’t bounce your way,” he said.

Travis Longboat did manage to score two goals for the Six Nations club while Rodd Squire, Daylen Hill, Justin Martin and Jordan Goddard had the other Rivermen goals. While the Rivermen are now sporting a record of 11-1, with the victory Oakville improved its mark to 7-5, good for third place in the standings of the six-team league.