Major League Lacrosse :      June 29, 2006 [ The Game Story]
Philadelphia Barrage 5 Boston Cannons 16 Scoring: Scoring:     Conor Gill Brett Bucktooth Chazz Woodson Matt Poskay David Jenkins John Christmas Chris Fiore Chris Mucciolo Pat Collins DJ Andrzejewski Ryan Curtis Bill Glading (1, 4) (2, 1) (3, 0) (3, 0) (1, 1) (2, 0) (1, 1) (1, 1) (0, 1) (1, 0) (1, 0) (0, 1) Saves: Saves:     Chris Garrity 16  (0.762) Current Record :     (5-2) Current Record :     (6-1) Team Page For 2006 Team Page For 2006       The Game Story:

The Boston Cannons stormed into sole possession of first place with a resounding thumping of the Philadelphia Barrage, 16-5. The game was called with 13:00 remaining in the fourth quarter due to a lightning storm. The win is the Cannons second over the Barrage in six days.

Villanova, PA - What appeared to be a battle between the two top teams in the MLL, quickly got out of hand as Boston ran away with this one. Philly struck first on a Michael Springer goal off a Ryan Boyle assist. Boston notched the next two as Matt Poskay got his first of three on the day followed by his standard fist pump. Face-off specialist David Jenkins then got his first goal of the season to put the Cannons up 2-1. Philly’s next goal by BJ Prager would be the last one they’d see for nearly twenty minutes. Boston exploded for the next seven goals giving themselves a nice 9-2 lead. A late first half goal by Matt Striebel almost gave Philly hope heading into the break down 11-4.

Heading into the game, it was no secret that there was bad blood between the teams. Sparks were expected to fly following Saturday’s 16-15 Cannons win up in Boston. Boston held up their part of the offensive performance, while Philadelphia took care of the physical aspect. In the 2nd quarter, Boston’s Chazz Woodson, who stands at 5’9” and 165 lbs, apparently did something to anger Philadelphia’s Roy Colsey, 6’1” and 195 lbs. The heftier Colsey went after Woodson, while Woodson appeared to be confused and retreated. Linemate John Christmas tried to come to his aid to separate the two and break it up, as it appeared that Colsey wasn’t going to let go until he ripped Woodson’s head off. Christmas unfortunately then became the focal point of Brian Spallina’s wrath as he stormed in and tried to ripped Christmas’ head off. Both Colsey and Woodson were awarded unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, while Spallina got off with nothing. The more peaceful Cannons let their playing do the talking, and…well…the score speaks for itself. One of the Cannons’s assistant coach was heard on the sideline saying, “Let them talk. You can’t play defense with your mouth.”

While Philadelphia finally had Ryan Boyle back from an injury, another star, Brian Dougherty, was questionable heading into the game. Doc started the game and played for nearly 21 minutes. He made 12 saves while allowing 8 goals. He was pulled in favor of local product Kevin Keenan, who got the most playing time of his MLL career. Keenan looked shaky on a few shots, but for the most part looked to be a very competent MLL goalie and comparable to having Doc still in goal. He did an admirable job with 15 saves in 39 minutes (really 26 because of the lightning storm) allowing 8 goals. Not many goalies would have made a difference with the way Boston was playing. On the other side, Boston’s Chris Garrity was on a record-setting pace before lightning cut the game short. He had 29 saves in 47 minutes of play, leaving him four saves shy of tying the MLL record of saves in a game.

The lightning started with 13:00 left on the clock and Boston sitting with a 16-5 lead. At some point during the initial 30:00 minute waiting period following any lightning, the game was called off. It counts as an official game, because an MLL game only needs to eclipse the 5:00 minute mark of the third quarter for it to count. Unfortunately, it had been Philadelphia’s biggest home crowd of the year as a reported 2,755 fans came out for the game. Hopefully they weren’t turned off by the Barrage’s lackluster performance and will show up again. Most headed towards the gate as the lightning break started, the Barrage have to be hoping that they come back in the future because the attendance has been pretty low so far this year.

Offensively, Conor Gill torched the Barrage with 4 assists and a goal. Rookies Matt Poskay and Brett Bucktooth had big days. Poskay had 3 goals while Bucktooth went 2 and 1. DJ Andrejewski in his first game got his first goal from the midfield for the Barrage. The Barrage were again held below 50% at the face-off circle, as David Jenkins beat Jack DeVilliers on 13 of 24 draws.

The Barrage travel to New Jersey next week, in need of getting back on the right track after two losses to the Cannons. Boston now sits atop the Eastern Conference and heads out to Los Angeles next weekend before the MLL has a scheduled break for the World Games.