The intensity boiled over into the stands on Sunday, May 20 in an Ontario Junior ‘B’ Lacrosse League match-up between heated division rivals, the Windsor Clippers and Wallaceburg Red Devils.
Windsor 15, Wallaceburg 13
The Clippers halted the Red Devils’ nine-game winning streak on Sunday with a 15-13 victory.
The back-and-forth contest had the 575 people in Wallaceburg Memorial Arena on the edge of their seats throughout.
Marshall Powless had an 8-point game for the Red Devils, scoring one goal and adding 7 assists.
Carter Hastings had 6-points, 2 goals and 4 assists, while Kyle Dawson scored 4 goals and added 1 assist for Wallaceburg.
Jamie Knight, one of the Red Devils coaches, told the Sydenham Current he thought the offence played well, but the defence had some holes.
“We couldn’t get the stops when we needed a timely stop,” Knight said.
“Sometimes you want your goalie to make that big save for you. It’s a team sport, I’m not saying we lost because of our goaltending, because we didn’t. We didn’t do that great of a job defensively.”
Brayden Bell allowed 11 goals and made 29 saves in 50:45 minutes of action. Lucas Jacobs allowed 4 goals on 12 shots in 9:15 minutes of action at the end of the second period.
Blown calls
Knight said some missed calls in the game contributed to the Red Devils loss, their second this season at home to Windsor.
“It’s the same old song and dance,” Knight said.
“We were a 10-1 team coming into today, at home. We got no love from the referees. Marshall Powless gets absolutely greased from behind, high stick, checking from behind, call it what you want… that’s a five-minute penalty on one of the best players in the league right in front of the referee… no call, no call, no love.”
Knight added it is a recurring issue with Wallaceburg having problems with the officiating.
Heated in the stands
With less than a minute left in the game, there was a disturbance in the stands behind the Red Devils and Clippers benches.
It was decided at the time to run out the clock, and the game finished 15-13 in favour of Windsor.
The commotion continued in the stands for several minutes at the conclusion of the game.
Eventually, the Chatham-Kent Police Service was called.
“We were called to the arena for a disturb the peace call,” Const. Lisa Rodgers told the Sydenham Current.
“It appears upon officers arrival most of the commotion was finished, and no one wanted to make a complaint to officers.”
Police involvement is not something new when the Clippers and Red Devils square off.
Last year during the playoffs in Windsor, a situation led to a Red Devils coach being charged by the Windsor Police. Police officers were on duty in the arena in Wallaceburg for the following playoff game as well.
Moving forward
The Red Devils still own a 10-2 record on the year, with their only two losses coming at the hands of the Clippers.
“We’ll learn from it, we’ve got to re-group,” Knight said.
“We have Sarnia here Thursday night, so let’s have a really good practice on Tuesday. And honestly, we need to get healthy. We have some big names out of our lineup. Not having Vern (Hill), Parker (Gilhuly), not having Bronson (Bea), missing some key players. Again, that has been our strength this year, our depth.”
Wallaceburg and Windsor both have 20 points on the year, with Windsor sitting in first place with the two wins over Wallaceburg.
However, the Clippers (10-3) have a an extra loss and a game in hand over the Devils (10-2).
The Red Devils will host Point Edward on Thursday night in Wallaceburg. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
The team’s final regular season home game is Saturday at 4 p.m. against London.
Wallaceburg’s final six regular season games will be on the road.
Here are some photos from Saturday’s match-up:
– Photo credit: Aaron Hall
