Short Staffed Snipers run out of gas versus Monarchs
Short-staffed Snipers run out of gas versus Monarchs
By Sam Laskaris
Several late penalties and a short-staffed bench proved costly for the Six Nations Snipers on Sunday.
The host Snipers were deadlocked at 11-11 with the Toronto Monarchs entering the fourth quarter of their Arena Lacrosse League match held at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA) in Six Nations.
The Monarchs outscored the Snipers 4-1 over the final 15 minutes of action to register a 15-12 victory.
The host Six Nations squad was unable to generate much offensive momentum in the fourth quarter as it was assessed five penalties in comparison to the Monarchs who had one late minor infraction.
Snipers’ head coach Darcy Powless was ejected from the contest midway through the final quarter for questioning officiating calls.
“It was a good game, back and forth,” he said. “We didn’t like the reffing. We had bad penalties at the wrong time and questionable calls at the wrong time.”
The loss snapped the Snipers’ two-game winning streak. The club is now sporting a 2-2 record.
The Six Nations club entered the game without a full roster. The Snipers had just 16 runners – four under the maximum allotment of 20 – for the game.
Powless said one of his players was battling an illness while some others were away on vacation or still had holiday commitments.
“We’ve got a good mix of players,” Powless said. “We just need a full roster and we should be okay.”
Powless singled out the efforts of a few of his players, including goaltender Dusty Hill, who had a decent outing despite battling a sickness and Chayton King, who scored five goals and added an assist for a six-point performance.
“He’s been playing well for us,” Powless said of King, who has racked up 16 points, including 10 goals, in four games this season.
King is one of just eight players that have dressed for all four of the Snipers’ games this season.
Another player who has perfect attendance thus far is Travis Staats.
Like Powless, Staats would also love to see the Snipers having a similar roster for its outings.
“Some consistency would be nice to have the same lineup each game,” said Staats, who scored once on Sunday and now has four goals this season. “But every lineup we’ve had this year, I’ve had no complaints with any of them.”
Staats added he felt a short bench on Sunday in part led to his club’s defeat.
“We got caught on a couple of odd-man rushes,” he said.
Staats is confident, however, the Snipers are capable of being one of the top teams in the eight-team league.
“If we have a full roster, I can see us doing very well,” he said.
Besides King’s six-point game, the Snipers had a couple of players who also shone offensively on Sunday.
Jeremy Bomberry and Kealon Pilon both scored twice and had five assists apiece.
Colton Armitage and Avery Steinbach-Parker had the other Six Nations goals.
The Snipers return to action this Sunday when they square off against the 0-4 Ohsweken Bears in a 4 p.m. match at the ILA.