Hill backstops Snipers to victory over visiting Timbermen

by Sam Laskaris

By Sam Laskaris

Despite facing some obstacles, the Six Nations Snipers were able to emerge with a victory on Sunday.

The Snipers defeated the visiting Peterborough Timbermen 16-13 in an Arena Lacrosse League contest held at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena in Six Nations.

Snipers’ head coach Darcy Powless was slightly miffed before the contest as a handful of players who had previously said would be available for the Sunday matinee did not show up.

The no-shows included one player who called in sick and another who had to back out for work reasons.

As a result, the Snipers dressed 16 runners – two below the maximum allotment of 18 – for the game.

“Before the game guys were bummed out (at not having a full bench),” Powless said. “But they played through it.”

The Snipers also had to deal with some penalty problems throughout the match. The Six Nations squad was assessed 12 minor penalties in the contest while the Timbermen only picked up three minor infractions.

“We weren’t helping ourselves,” Powless said of his team’s numerous penalties.

The Timbermen took advantage of their plethora of man-advantage situations and ended up scoring six powerplay goals.

Powless had plenty of praise for Snipers’ goaltender Dusty Hill, who picked up the win between the pipes.

“Dusty played well,” he said. “He played like Dusty. He made big saves when we needed them.”

Hill, who was selected as the first star of the game, said he was not overly concerned the Snipers did not have a full roster for the match.

“We’ve got a really good group of guys here,” he said. “We don’t need a full lineup to put a good game together.”

With the victory, the Snipers boosted their mark to 2-1 and find themselves on a two-game winning streak to end the 2024 portion of their season.

“I think we’re getting better every game,” said Hill, who has played all three of the Snipers’ games so far this season. “We have some good momentum going and we want to keep it going for the next game.”

As for Powless, he said the time might have already come to start contemplating some changes to the squad’s roster. He’s not thrilled some players who had expressed interest in being part of the team have not shown consistent commitment to attending practices and games thus far.

Chayton King was one of the Snipers’ offensive stars against the Timbermen. He scored four goals and also added an assist.

Jeremy Bomberry and Avery Steinbach-Parker also had five-point performances for the Snipers. Bomberry scored three goals and had two assists while Steinbach-Parker scored once and contributed four assists.
Also, Mitch Zulian netted a pair of goals for the Snipers. And the Six Nations squad also had six other players find the back of the Peterborough net. They were Blake Gibson-McDonald, Wes Whitlow, Jerry Staats, Riley Hess, Kahn General and Eric Poirier.

The Snipers’ next game is this Sunday, Jan. 5, versus the Toronto Monarchs. Game time at the ILA is 4 p.m.