By RON THOMAS
The possibility of losing their grip on second place in the National Lacrosse League seems to have been the incentive the Rochester Griffins needed to shake their August slump. For in last night’s 17-15 victory before 1,602 fans at the War Memorial, they clearly outran and outhustled Montreal.
“It’s gotten to the point where we’ve got to give everything we’ve got,” said oft-criticized Kevin Parsons, who played one of his most aggressive games of the season last night.
The victory gave Rochester a three-point lead over Maryland in the race for second place and a five-point lead over Montreal. Now the Griffins have to win Sunday against Toronto at home, or Wednesday in Syracuse to clinch second place.
The Griffins utilized a rapid-fire, third-period scoring spree to win last night. With three minutes elapsed, they scored four times with 2:43 to turn a 10-13 deficit into a 14-13 lead. Dave Wilfong, whose four goal gave him 74 for the season, initiated that spurt.
He produced the first of the string strictly by being a pest. After Montreal goalie Dan Crocker made a save, Wilfong stick-check from him, chased the loose ball behind the net with Crocker in hot pursuit and then fired a shot past the Les Quebecois goalie before he could re-establish his position in the net.
Just thirty-five seconds later Wilfong scored again; this time on a breakaway with Charlie Henderson. It was a scene that occurred often last night: Wilfong tearing down the left side of the War Memorial floor, receiving an accurate pass from a teammate and then roaring in on the goalie.
“For one hundred yards I don’t have speed, but in those first 40 steps I’m quick,” said Wilfong. “The key for me is the quick getaway and then the other guys can’t catch me.”
Pinpoint shooting was another plus for Wilfong, who scored with four of his eight shots.
Wilfong said that as he closes in on a goalie, “I try not to think too much. You see the hole and really put it there hard. A good goal is when you see the net move back when the ball hits it. We call that trying to sing the ball into that net.”
Scores by Graeme Gair and Jan Magee quickly followed Wilfong’s goals and three minutes later Bill Tierney scored the Griffins’ fifth straight goal. Earlier in the game, the Griffins twice scored three goals within three-and-one-half minutes, supporting Coach-GM Morley Kells’ theory that “For a fastbreak team to win, we have to score in bunches.”
Kells wasn’t satisfied with the Griffins’ execution during the game, but was pleased that they seemed obsessed with the need for a victory.
Parsons, who has played lackadaisically at times this season, caused confusion near the Montreal net by following-up his own blocked shots, scrambling after loose balls everywhere and going but of his way to check Montreal goalies when they strayed from the net.
Tom Phair, Brian Keegan and Rick Bisson were aggressive standouts in Kells’ “Rotating Five” defense (similar to a switching man-to-man in basketball). And spare goalie Gary Van Schagen once again came to the rescue, displaying cat-quick reactions in goal yielded five goals from 13 Montreal shots.
NOTES: Parsons scored twice last night with a new stick. “I should have thrown the old one away 20 game ago,” he said. “I was holding it together with about eight pieces of tape because it had been so good to me in the past. I used it for three years.” . . . Both teams were livid about the refereeing by Charlie Philips and Ron Finn.
Montreal Coach John Ferguson (the former hockey star) was enraged that they disallowed a Les Quebecois second-period goal because the buzzer on the 30-secohd clock inadvertently sounded just before the score. Even Kells said after the game that the goal should have counted . . . Ferguson showed his displeasure by hurling a towel, ice chips, a plastic cup and then a wooden box onto the floor. For all of that, he received a two-minute bench penalty . . . The Griffins’ Rick Dudley was ejected from the game after he accused Finn of being Afraid of Ferguson. “I told him his knees were shaking when Ferguson was standing on the boards (seemingly ready to. pounce on any passing referee),” Dudley said.
