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| A pair of Welland Warlords including Robert Stanley (15) rough up a St. Catharines Spartan Thursday at Merritton Centennial Arena. |
St. Catharines Standard
Thursday, May 16, 2013
ST. CATHARINES - Three seasons into his career with the St. Catharines junior B Spartans lacrosse team, Trevor Hines has become a leader.
“You try to step up a little more each year,” the St. Catharines native said. “You take a little more chances because the confidence is there.”
Like every lacrosse player, his game is a work in progress.
“The first season was a little rough, but the second season I started to get a feel for it,” the construction worker said. “This season. I’m just trying to lead by example out there. I don’t say much in there.”
He certainly let his actions speak Thursday night at the Merritton Arena against the visiting Welland Warlords. Hines scored twice and added five assists to help his team to a harder-than-it-sounds 13-8 victory.
It was a big victory for the Spartans after back-to-back disappointing home losses to Niagara and Orangeville.
“We need to move the ball on offence and staying out of the (penalty) box was a huge thing for us,” Hines said. “Tonight, we stayed out of the box at the end and something started clicking.”
Hines is confident the Spartans can click on a much more consistent basis this season.
“I think we want to go to the Founders Cup,” he said. “It’s a legitimate goal but we have lots of work to do obviously.”
Hines will be a big part of the Spartans’ success.
“Trevor has progressed year after year and we’re counting on him big time this year,” Spartans head coach Matt Attwood said.
Attwood feels Hines is more than just a quiet leader.
“He leads by example, but if he needs to he’ll step up and give a shout or two.”
St. Catharines build period leads of 3-0 and 7-6 before putting the game away with three goals in 28 seconds late in the third period.
“We had one bad period,” Attwood said. “The game should have been out of hand but we let them crawl back in and take advantage of us in the second period. But the third period, we stepped back up.”
Thursday’s game was a feisty affair. “Welland plays us hard and we play hard back,” Attwood said. “Emotions get to each other but the refs caught on early.”
The officiating crew kept firm control of the game, handing out three 10-minute misconducts to each team and 150 total penalty minutes, including 84 to Welland. Welland assistant coach Jeremy Harley received a game and gross misconduct in the third period after he tossed a water bottle in the direction of one official.
“They didn’t let it get away but they could have called a little more or called a little less,” Attwood said.
