Mark Stehlin
May 14, 2025
The Brooklin Merchants started the season with a loss in Owen Sound on May 4, 2025. Since that time, they have rattled off three straight wins including tonight’s 12-10 victory over the James Gang in Ennismore. The Merchants played their third game in four nights and will be back in action on Friday May 16 with an 8 pm game in Hamilton when they tangle with the Bengals.
Tonight’s contest was a classic battle as the Merchants took the first period by a score of 6-4. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead with goals from Liam Osborne and Cole Tucker. At the end of the period, Zac Carrigan notched two consecutive power-play goals including one with 16 seconds on the clock to send the visitors to the break, up by two.
The James Gang came out firing with two of their own early in the second and the game was tied with two minutes off the clock. The home team would take the middle period 5-3, including Tommy Collins’ goal with just 3 seconds on the clock, and the teams were knotted at 9-9 after forty minutes.
Head Coach, Ryan Degerdon is big on his team pushing to win each period. On this night, the Merchants won two of three periods, including a close 3-1 third to take the win by a final of 12-10 and improve to 3-1 on the season.
"I think that tonight's game was a challenge for the boys, being tied at 9-9 after two was something we had to overcome", said Degerdon.
"My message to the players in the second intermission was that with a few new faces we have to communicate more and learn to gel together, I thought we did in the third period and it gave us the win", he added.
"As a team the standard and expectation is that we get better every game. There is a ton of skill in the room and we have to hold ourselves accountable, ultimately I want other teams to learn that we are tough to play against, and I think that will lead to success," summarized Degerdon.
Scoring for the Merchants – Osborne (1,0) Renaud (0,3) Carrigan (4,3) MacLeod (2,3) Elliott (1,2) D Pipher (0,4) Perroni (1,1) Tucker (3,0) P Pipher (0,4)