Goaltending key in Medicine Men win over Tyendinaga

By Andy Garner

The Bear's Den Mohawk Medicine Men claimed their first win of the 2019 season over the Tyendinaga Thunder.

They played to an 11-4 final score on the Medicine Men's home turf at the St. Lawrence Centre Arena on Thursday, June 6.

"We played a complete game, our goalie played really strong, offence were getting multiple possessions and our defense were not letting them (Tyendinaga) get up close, they were forced to take a lot of outside shots and Dreydon was stopping all of it," Akwesasne Coach Kariwate Mitchell said.

The Medicine Men scored the only goals they would need during the first period, while keeping the Thunder scoreless. Tyendinaga managed two goals in each of the second and third stanzas.

"Our goalie (Dreydon Jackson) got the opportunity as starting goalie and played solid the entire game. It was pretty evident that his confidence level was pretty high, he looked very comfortable in net. Tyendinaga didn't score a goal on him until the second period," Coach Mitchell said. "He played well last game in Onondaga and his good play carried over to this game."

He said Jackson covered the net in their Saturday, June 1 game at Onondaga, which ended in a 12-12 tie. He believes had they had a full roster, they would have won, and also won two recent games where they lost by just one goal in each.

"Our record up to now doesn't reflect our ability, we lost two games by one goal, tied one game. If we had a full line up in those games, I know we would have more points," Mitchell said. "It felt really good to get that first win, the boys had some big smiles in the locker room afterwards but we still have a lot of work to get to where we want to be."

In the win over Tyendinaga, Cam Smith opened scoring early in the first period. Josh Huaitt and Isaac Thrasher both went on to score twice before the intermission buzzer. Thrasher connected for what would hold up as the game-winner at 18:23, assisted by Mick Miller and Cam Talcott.

Smith paced the Akwesasne offense with three goals and four assists. Thrasher scored three goals with one assist. Huiatt scored twice and assisted two plays. Montana Pierce (one assist), Jeremy Girarel and Kearnan Lafaver netted singletons. Mick Miller and Talcott each generated two assists. Cole Moore, Davis Jacobs and Keenan O'Gorman tallied solo helpers.