Whitby Steelhawks Earn Win in Goaltenders Duel

Photos courtesy of Jay Saucier

It was another successful weekend for the Arena Lacrosse League. Three of the four games were decided by one goal margins , one going to overtime. These games are solid advertising for the league with very tight 2026 standings.  The defending champion Brampton Excelsiors are at 6-1 for top spot and three teams, including the Whitby Steelhawks, follow at 5-3.

A Saturday matinee between the Steelhawks and the Six Nations Snipers featured a goaltenders duel matching Ryan Schuetzkowski for Whitby and Dustin Hill in the Snipers cage. Schuetzkowski came out on top when the buzzer sounded, and his Steelhawks took the 10-9 win.

The Steelhawks welcomed Jordan Stouros back to line-up and he opened the scoring in the game. It was 2-2 after the first 15 minutes with both netminders giving their respective teams solid performances and a chance to win the game.

A total of six goals were scored in the second quarter. Whitby scored two in succession and the Snipers answered right back to see the teams knotted at 4-4. Only 12 seconds after the face-off, Whitby’s offensive threat Owen Orpana opened the lead to 5-4. With 4:25 on the clock the referees called a delayed penalty on Whitby, Snipers forward Kealon Pilon fired a shot to tie the game once again. The tie score was short-lived as, this time, with only eight seconds elapsed Nate Woods on a broken play took the ball down the floor to restore the one goal lead at the half-time whistle. Each team called a time-out late in that second quarter, but neither was able to draw up a successful play.

The teams went back and forth in the third quarter and at the end of that 15 minutes the teams were tied at 8-8. The Steelhawks found themselves in penalty trouble in that frame and the Snipers capitalized with three extra-man goals to win that frame 3-2.

Veteran Steelhawk Devin Pipher scored twice in the final quarter including a bullet from high in the slot to give the homeside a 10-8 lead with 8:52 showing on the clock. One minute later, Chayton King answered for Six Nations to get back within one but both goalies played flawlessly the rest of the way and the score remained 10-9 for the Steelhawks.

Schuetzkowski was traded prior to the season from the Oshawa Outlaws to Whitby.

“The trade was not something that I wanted as I thought I would spend my whole career with the Outlaws. I made a lot of connections in Oshawa, but it turned out okay as I know these guys here in Whitby and I’m happy to be a Hawk that’s for sure,” said Schuetzkowski.

“Today’s game was tight, and we got into some penalty trouble, I think that today’s win showed how resilient we can be, and these kinds of games test the character of the dressing room,” he added.

Schuetzkowski shares the goaltending duties with Ethan Harwood in Whitby.

“I think Big E (Steelhawk goalie Ethan Harwood) and I get along well, and I can talk him through different scenarios as I am older and have some more experience. I’m excited to see how we do down the stretch here,” he replied.

After a three-game home stand the Steelhawks will travel to Brampton on Friday night at 8 pm to tangle with the top place team and defending champions. After Friday’s game the Steelhawks have five games remaining with four of them at home.