By DAVE
BORODY
The Sarnia In
Motion Pacers
dropped a 14-8
decision to the
London Blue
Devils in
exhibition
Junior B
lacrosse action,
Wednesday night
before almost
300 fans at the
Clearwater
Arena.
The game was the
final pre-season
match for the
Pacers as they
will open their
2010 Ontario
Lacrosse
Association
Junior B League
season Friday
night in
Wallaceburg.
The Pacers will
play their first
three games on
the road before
their home
opener April 28th
against Windsor
at 8 p.m. at the
Clearwater
Arena.
Pacers head
coach and
general manager
Ken Barrett
assessed his
team’s
performance
against London.
“Obviously I’m
disappointed we
lost, but there
were a lot of
things we
learned from the
game and things
we need to work
on. We didn’t
handle our
special teams
very well.
That’s mainly
because we
haven’t dealt
with it in
practice until
this week. I
think London
scored eight of
their 17 goals
on the power
play.”
He added, “we
were missing
some veterans
tonight so a lot
of the rookies
played a lot and
that’s a good
thing. We had
two rookie
goalies and it
was good for
them to get some
game situation.
Again
five-on-five we
were pretty even
with London. But
special teams
are so
important.”
Barrett says his
team will be
ready for the
season opener on
Friday.
“We’ve got no
choice.
Offensively I
thought we moved
the ball around
pretty well.
Defensively we
had some lapses
and that’s
something we
have to
correct.”
London held a
5-2 lead after
one period and
10-6 after the
second before
scoring four
straight goals
early in the
third period to
put the game out
of reach.
Jimmy Purves,
who begins his
fourth season
with the Pacers,
led the Sarnia
offence with
three goals and
two assists.
Rookie Dan
Charlton had two
goals and three
assists while
Mike Butler,
Josh Yurchuk and
Shayne Cox
chipped in with
singles.
Ian Ferguson and
Llew Falla
shared the
goaltending
duties for
Sarnia.
When asked what
kind of team
Barrett wants
this season, he
replied, “hard
work, hard work
and hard work.
We don’t have
the luxury of
teams like Six
Nations who can
score a lot or
replace their
top offensive
players each
year. We also
want to preach
team unity.”
Barrett said 36
players attended
training camp
and they plan to
start the season
with 24 runners.
“My philosophy
is you have to
work hard in
practice or you
won’t play.
That’s a little
different than
in the past.”
Barrett added
that it was by
design the
Pacers will
start the season
with three road
games.
“That was
intentional. We
found in the
past there were
too many jitters
when we started
at home. After
our opening game
on Friday, we
have a week off
to practice and
prepare for two
more games. It
will be an
overnight trip
to the Niagara
are and will
give us a chance
to do some team
bonding and be
ready for the
home opener the
following week.”
Sarnia will
again play a
20-game
schedule. They
finished with a
5-15 record a
year ago.
Barrett is in
his first season
coaching taking
over from John
Dark who
resigned at the
end of last
season.
The majority of
home games will
either be on
Wednesday or
Sunday.
