Mark Stehlin
Jun 8, 2025
Veteran goalkeeper Lukas Coote pulled out all the stops to ensure his team’s win streak continued last night at Iroquois Park Sports Centre. In the first of a home and home weekend series against the Hamilton Bengals, the Brooklin Merchants came out on top with a 9-6 win. The last time these sides met in Hamilton was May 16 when the Merchants eked out a 12-11 win. The two points from last night puts the Merchants at 8-1, good for first overall, as their 25th anniversary season continues to shine with success.
The game started well for the home side as Zac Carrigan with a pair and a single to Devin Pipher gave them a 3-0 lead after the first period. The teams resembled a pair of prize fighters who were sizing each other up at the start of this match. The first half of the opening frame was a display of back and forth action with no scoring until the 13th minute. Pipher’s goal was featured as a highlight reel on Merchants social media accounts when he fired a quick back-handed cross body shot that beat Bengals keeper Carter Browne. In the Merchants net, Lukas Coote was on point as he made a series of acrobatic highlight saves himself.
“I felt at times that our offense wasn’t producing as much as I thought they can, so it’s my job to stop the ball and give us a chance to win any way that I can,” said Coote following the game.
“As a veteran on this team I see my role as showing composure when things may not be going well. I’m not a big voice guy in the room but I will speak up when it is needed. I want the team to know they can look back at the net and count on me to make important stops,” added Coote.
The middle frame ended in a 4-4 tie as each team had mini runs during those 20 minutes. It took the Bengals 24 minutes to solve Coote when Dawson Brown fired one home at 15:54 of that middle period. With half the period remaining the Merchants had built a commanding 7-1 lead. The Merchants offense stopped producing long enough for the Bengals to put their own three-goal run together. As the second period drew to a close and it was 7-4 for the homeside.
The third period mirrored the second as the teams managed only two goals apiece. Eddie Renaud scored early in the period to open the gap to 8-4 before the Bengals clawed back two of their own in the middle of the frame to make the rest of the game interesting. Darryl Robertson scored with 1:30 on the clock to lock this one down.
The equipment managers for both sides have little time on this short back to back. For the Merchants, Greg Linton will be busy doing laundry and packing the gear up as the teams meet in Hamilton on Sunday afternoon at 5 pm at the Dave Andreychuk Arena for round 2.
The Merchants now have a long break as they don’t play again until Saturday June 28 at 4 pm with a pivotal game against the Six Nations Rivermen. That date features a double-header as the Brooklin Lacrosse Club hosts the Six Nations Chiefs for their annual Scott McMichael Minor Lacrosse Night at 8 pm.
Scoring – Renaud (1,2) Carrigan (3,1) MacLeod (0,4) Devin Pipher (1,0) Wheller (0,1) Perroni (0,1) Robertson (1,0) Miller (2,2) Parker Pipher (1,1)