Mimico, Burlington and Toronto win in Father’s day triple-header

Toronto’s Willem Firth scored four goals in the Beaches win over Brampton, capping a full day in the OJLL. (PHOTO: OJLL || R McCullough)

Six Ontario Junior Lacrosse League teams competed on Father’s Day. The Mimico Mountaineers and Burlington Blaze picked up victories despite hosting higher seeds, while the Toronto Beaches were the only road team to win on the day, capping the evening on OJLL TV with an 8-6 win over the Brampton Excelsiors.

The first game of the afternoon saw the St Catharines Athletics play just their fourth road game of the season travelling to Mimico Area. The homeside Mountaineers scored the only goal of the first period, but then scored four in under seven minutes in a penalty-filled second. Another three-goal run to close out the third helped Mimico to its second consecutive win 10-4, just the third overall.

Mimico was led by Justin Tavares seven points (2/5) matching a career high set earlier this season. Jacob Keller (3/2) registered his third career OJLL hat trick. 

Jameson Bucktooth (2 goals), Gavin Howard (1/1), and Zackary Toll did all the scoring for St Catharines.

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Down the QEW, about an hour after the first game finished, the Burlington Blaze and Whitby Warriors squared off. Burlington battled back to tie the game at 10 in the third period, forcing overtime. 3:31 into the extra frame Chuck Rawson scored his second of the game and twenty-second overall to hand the Warriors just their second loss of the season 11-10. The win was the Blaze’s third.

Rawson led all runners with eight points (2/6). Cody Inness (2/0) and Stone Evans (2/0) were the other Burlington multi-goal scorers.

Lucas Littlejohn added four goals to his impressive season (4/2). He now leads the OJLL in points (59) and sits second in goals (23) in his nine games played. Sam Forbes stopped 57 of 67 shots faced for his first win of the season.

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All the scoring between the Toronto Beaches and Brampton Excelsiors occurred in the first two periods. Tied 3-3 after the first, four different Beaches players combined to score four goals in 3:21 to upset what was a Brampton 5-4 lead. Goaltenders Thomas Kiazyk (40/46 for Toronto) and Anthony Cedilotte (50 saves from 58 shots) were exceptional throughout.

Willem Firth’s four goals led both offenses. Brampton had five players combine to score their six goals (Nolan Marshall – 2 goals).