A home opener crowd of 9,000 in Boston witnessed the Tomahawk strategy of pulling the goalie in the dying seconds in favor of an extra attacker, pay off on Monday night as Doug Hayes scored with 28 seconds remaining, to tie the match 16- 16 and force overtime. The superb conditioning of the L.I. club was ever so apparent during the overtime period as they totally outhustled Boston with Gordaneer, Parsons and Neuman scoring in succession before the Bolts could retaliate. Final score: Tomahawks 19, Boston 17 and a first victory of the young season for Long Island.
In previous games: a 19-18 squeeker was lost to Maryland in the opening game of the season on April 22nd. with Arrows rookie Brian Tasker scoring the winner with 5 seconds remaining in the 3rd. period to clinch the contest. Tomahawks, Dave Wilfong picked up 5 markers in that affair. The next evening saw a hustling Philadelphia Wings ball club hand down a 19-9 defeat to the Tomahawks in the Spectrum. Doug Hayes was the top L.I. marksman with 4 goals in that contest. The Tomahawks will be looking to even up that score this evening.
For the record: Leading Tomahawk scorers in the first 3 games of the season are Doug Hayes with 8 goals, Dave Wilfong 7, Al Gordaneer with 5 markers and three apiece for Henderson, Medhurst, Magee, Warden and Parsons.
Tomahawk Trivia and Tidbits’
In the early days of the sport, the New Westminster Salmonbellies enjoyed lacrosse supremacy on the West coast, winning all but three championships between 1894 and 1915. At one point, a Vancouver team, eager to defeat the Salmonbellies, enlisted the services of Tommy Burns, the then recently defeated World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Burns’ lacrosse career was a short one—he was knocked out cold by a stray stick in the first minute of the game. He never returned to the sport.
The Tomahawks have adopted the currently popular hit instrumental. “Express”, by the group “B.T. Express” as their official theme song. Why ? . . . because as a veteran rock ’n roller, bumpin expert and pro lacrosse star Rick Bisson describes it “the up-tempo beat perfectly suggests the fast moving, aggressive style of our game and I suppose you could say that we’re out to “freight train” our way to victory”.
At home, the Tomahawks will be introduced to their pre-game warmup during the entire season by “Express” and fans are welcome to join in . . . clap your hands, shimmy in your seats or do whatever comes to mind.