Di Miller, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©
Featured Image Photo Credit: C. Conigliaro
On Saturday January 15, 2022 the New York Riptide (0-4) hosted the Panther City Lacrosse Club (1-4) at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Hempstead, NY in front of 3,401 Riptide fans who were happy to finally see their team back in action. Last night’s contest would be the first victory for one of the two winless teams in the league. The Riptide had not played since December 12, 2021 over more than a full month due to COVID postponements something that is becoming all to frequent this season. Each and every game of Week Seven were spectacular all being decided by two goals or less and two in OT including this contest. Although the outcome was not what Riptide fans wanted, they still got treated to probably one of if not the best second half of lacrosse all weekend long.
For Panther City, they would be without a good chunk of their starting line up due to COVID protocol. On game day, they placed Phil Caputo, Nick Damude, Chad Cummings, Liam Patten, Connor Sellers and Matt Hossack on the COVID Protocol List from the Active Roster. They would fly in on game day for his first NLL career start Jack Jasinski and he would be wearing Connor Kelly’s jersey #1 for the contest. The Riptide would have Jeff Teat back in the line-up as well as all their starters in place for the game. Although the Riptide would outscore Panther City nine to four in the second to tie it up in the fourth, the ultimate game winner after a crazy OT frame would come from the visitors. Final Score OT: Panther City 13—Riptide 12.
Panther City would open it up in the first with Nathan Grenon (2g) scooping the loosie, catching Gowah Abrams off guard to bury it five-hole at the 1:25 mark and they were on the board 1-0. The Riptide defense didn’t get set up in time which allowed Patrick Dodds (3g, 5a) to notch one in transition right in front of the crease, he bounce one five hole at 5:32 and the visitors were up 2-0. The run would continue with Taite Cattoni (3g, 4a) firing an over the top shot five-hole on Abrams again at 9:24 and they were up by 3-0. Grenon would get his second on a goal off the draw pushing transition with a simple shot down the alley only nine seconds later 4-0 Panther City. The Riptide would halt the run off the give and go pump fake shot by Jake Fox (3g) right in front of the crease and he’d dunk it far side with 4:39 on the ticker 4-1. With all the attention on the crease, Callum Crawford (7a) would flip a nice behind-the-back pass to Connor Kearnan (4g, 2a) who was waiting behind the net and with the crease dive he snuck it in past Kevin Orleman for a power-play tally with 2:37 on the clock 4-2. But 21 seconds later Cattoni would step in with the crow hop from the outside and sting the corner extending the lead back to three 5-2. The Riptide would close out the first. Jeff Teat (3g, 2a) would split the defenders back through the loop and with a nice spin move fire it in front of the crease five-hole with 53 seconds on the timer. Shots at the end of one: Riptide 12—Panther City 10; Face offs Riptide 3-9 Panther City 6-9; Saves Riptide 5—Panther City 9. Score at the end of one: Panther City 5—Riptide 3.
The second was all Panther City with only three goals scored in the full 15. Dawson Theede (2g, 1a) would get the cross field feed from Jack Jasinski and power one in while Abrams was falling down and the ball would follow him in at 1:32 doubling the score 6-3. It would take a full six minutes of stellar net-minding before another ball would hit twine. Will Malcolm (2g, 3a) off the cross crease pass and the alley-oop on the crease with the slam dunk at 7:37 increased the score 7-3. Cattoni would notch his hat-trick getting a rebound off the boards with an over the top sniper shot from the outside with 2:06 on the clock and a five goal lead. With that goal, Abrams was pulled in favor of Steve Orleman younger brother of Kevin Orleman, net minder for Panther City. So for the remainder of the game, it would be a “Battle of the Brothers” between the pipes. New York would go on a six on five with the delayed penalty with 1:03 on the timer but could not capitalize before the half. Shots at the end of two: Riptide 9—Panther City 10; Face offs Riptide 2-4 Panther City 2-4; Saves Riptide 7—Panther City 9. Score at the end of two: Panther City 8—Riptide 3.
What a difference a quarter makes. The Riptide came out a different team in the second half and would dominate the third outscoring Panther City three to one. They would start the third on a man-up opportunity but could not capitalize. It would be Panther City who would score first with Jack Jasinski (1g, 3a) notching his first career NLL goal off the cross field pass with two seconds on the shot clock, he skipped one through the legs of S. Orleman at the 2:45 mark increasing the gap 9-3. The Riptide would finally get on the board after not having scored a goal for exactly 19 minutes (their last goal came with 53 seconds left in the first). Panther City would leave Fox wide open and he would bury an outside shot far side at 3:07 to start a three-goal run 9-4. Fox would score again notching his hat-trick off a cross crease pass, he’d head to the crease and dunk it short side a little over a minute later at 4:05 and the score was 9-5. The last goal in the frame came at the 5:20 mark. Another from Kearnan cutting through the middle, he’d catch and shoot cutting the gap to three. Panther City has only scored once since the goalie change at the 2:06 mark in the second. The Riptide have switched up their offense; their defense is synching and their transition is on target. They were playing much more organized in the third with a definite shift in momentum. Shots at the end of three: Riptide 12—Panther City 7; Saves Riptide 6—Panther City 9. Score at the end of three: Panther City 9—Riptide 6.
The fourth was all New York as they would once again outscore Panther City six to two. Jasinski would cut and open up the middle for Dodds to shoot over the screen and he would fire it stick side at 1:23 putting up Panther City 10-6. The Riptide would go man down and were fired up. Scott Dominey in transition on a one on two breakaway slowed down in enough time to place a perfect shot five-hole on K. Orleman for a short-handed tally at 4:33 to start a four-goal run. But before the run started, Malcolm on the rebound scored for Panther City or so some thought. Tracey Kelusky Bench Boss for Panther City tossed the challenge flag as the call on the floor was “NO GOAL”. It turned out the shot clock had run out so the challenge was no good and there was a loss of a time out, which only helped fire the flame for the Riptide. They would notch another short-handed marker at the 5:57 mark. Teat blazed out the front door waited for K. Orleman to drop to his knees, faked far side and shot near side with a no look shot 10-8 still in favor of Panther City but the gap was closing. Kearnan would notch his hat-trick on a power play goal off a nice behind-the-back pass from Crawford on the door step and he’d drop it in near side 10-9. Teat would tie it up with a nice swim move he’d bury it deep with a crease dive goal five-hole for his hat-trick at 8:07 and we were knotted up at 10 apiece. It took less than 30 seconds for Panther City to break the tie. Malcolm with the stutter step around his defender fired an overhand shot past S. Orleman 11-10 with 6:20 left. But Kearnan on the pick and roll and good ball movement, with the catch and shoot would flick his wrist and hit far side and just like that we were tied up at 11’s with 4:15 to go. Panther City would get their final in the fourth and what they hoped would be the GWG when Theede reached around his defender and as he was falling down fired one on the net to put them up again 12-11 with 3:15 left. But as we all know, that’s way too much time in any NLL game. With three left on the ticker, Kearnan would circle behind the cage and somehow found an opening to tie it up again. For the next three minutes, each team would fire on cage, but neither could get anything past the Brothers’ Orleman. With 24.1 seconds on the clock, New York would call for a time out to set up the last play but it was for not, as they couldn’t score the go ahead goal. Score at the end of four: Panther City 12—Riptide 12.
Heading into OT, it was probably one of the craziest we’ve ever seen. Panther City would win the opening draw, scoop the loosie and at .05 would call a time out to set up what they hoped would be the play to win the game. It was unsuccessful. At the 1:55 mark, what the Riptide fans had hoped would be the OT winning goal was reviewed as all goals in OT are, was called back as Callum Crawford’s toe was on the crease. The Riptide fans were stunned. The teams would battle back and forth for another four minutes until Panther City would find themselves in the same position. Patrick Dodds had fired a shot on the crease at 5:50 only to have that one reviewed and also found to have his toe on the crease. The Riptide fans and bench breathed a sigh of relief as they hoped for another chance. For another six minutes the teams fought hard and the net-minders were stellar. With the clock showing 3:50 remaining, Panther City got the defense to focus on the action on the far side and Dodds was able to bury it quickly over the top. The ball would pass the plane of the goal before his foot hit the turf. The Riptide fans were heartbroken. Final Score OT: Panther City 13—Riptide 12.
GAME STATS:
New York Riptide—SOG 53; FO 15-29; Saves 28; Assists 79; PP 2-3; PIM 10
Panther City—SOG 41; FO 14-29; Saves 41; Assists 64; PP 0-5; PIM 6
NEXT UP:
The New York Riptide (0-4) will head to Wells Fargo Center on Sunday January 23, 2022 to face the Philadelphia Wings (3-2). Game time 4:00 p.m. EST. Fans in the USA can watch the game on ESPN+ and fans in Canada can catch the action on TSN.ca or the TSN app.
The Panther City Lacrosse Club (1-4) will head to Saskatoon to face the Saskatchewan Rush (1-4) on Saturday January 29, 2022 at the Sasktel Arena. Game time 8:30 p.m. EST. Each team has a full week to get ready with Panther City coming off their first franchise victory and the Rush coming off another loss, they will be hungry for a “W”. The game can be seen on ESPN+ in the USA and on TSN.ca or the TSN app in Canada.
Di Miller, NLL Correspondent
Lacrosse is Awesome©