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Mayaleh nets four as Chill tame Lions

Jimmie Mayaleh was going to be the Thunder Bay Chill’s go-to guy this season, a striker who could provide the offense the team was missing in 2009.
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Chill midfielder Nolan Intermoia (left) battles Winnipeg Sons of Italy goalie Steve Sawatzky for the ball during first-half play at Chapples Field on Sunday. Intermoia scored on the play, but the goal was disallowed. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)
Jimmie Mayaleh was going to be the Thunder Bay Chill’s go-to guy this season, a striker who could provide the offense the team was missing in 2009.

Then coach Tony Colistro got a call from Brandon Swartzendruber, a two-time top-10 goal scorer in the Premier Development League.

Plans changed, but someone forgot to tell Mayaleh.

On Sunday the University of Prince Edward Island star scored four times, leading the Chill to a lopsided 8-0 win over the visiting Winnipeg Sons of Italy Lions to complete a weekend exhibition sweep.

“It was a little better showing than yesterday,” said Mayaleh, who made his Chill debut on Saturday, a 3-0 conquest. “Today was a lot better and I finished my chances.

The Charlottetown native, who scored seven goals to finish tied for third in Atlantic University Sport scoring in 2009, said he wanted to show Colistro he belonged and could do the job.

“I had a point to prove. I’ve got to score goals for the team.”

It worked. Colistro couldn’t help but notice Mayaleh, who scored twice in the first half and twice more in the second.

“Jimmie was a player that we went after, that we were thinking about last year. We didn’t have enough scoring punch, and he was definitely going to be our big gun. Then we got a call from Swartzendruber and now it’s a nice position to be in, to have two kind of players who can score like that,” Colistro said.

Midfielder Nolan Intermoia, who had a goal and two assists – and one goal disallowed – said the Chill worked out most of its kinks from Saturday and put together a total team effort in Sunday’s finale.

“Tony switched up a bit of the formation and everything just to adjust. He knew the Lions would come out and understand how we played yesterday. We had the speed on the flanks. That’s where we attacked from. And we got some good early goals,” Intermoia said.

Colistro’s biggest change was reducing the number of strikers from three to two.

“We did that to (produce) different opportunities and show where we’re strong,” Colistro said. “I think we showed that with our flanks. Nathan Poirier is a new player and he’s very strong out wide for us. He’s a similar kind of player as Nolan. This was a good game for us to show what we can do there.

“I think the players are a little bit more relaxed than they were yesterday. Each game we’re just going to get stronger because they’re going to know each other a little better.”

Poirier had a pair of assists for Thunder Bay, who played the matinee contest in front of 366 fans on a windy day at Chapples Park.

They didn’t wait long to show the Lions who was the boss of this game.

In the third minute Julius Abegar beat Winnipeg goalie Steve Sawatzky. The Lions had a chance to tie the score in the 22nd minute, but Adam Hatikowski’s header bounced right of the post and Chill goalkeeper Tim Kalinowski, a former teammate of Mayaleh’s with the Avondale (P.E.I.) Islanders senior team.

Swartzendruber sprung Mayaleh free in the 27th minute. Three minutes later it was Intermoia making the pass to Mayaleh and the Chill were up 3-0.

Intermoia took a cross pass from Poirier in the 39th minute to wrap up first-half scoring.

It was more of the same in the second.

Swartzendruber, who was repeatedly called offside on Saturday, finally broke through in the 50th minute, connecting on an Intermoia pass that gave the Chill an insurmountable 5-0 lead. Mayaleh scored less than a minute later and then once more before exiting in favour of Gustavo Oliveira with 20 minutes to go.

Oliveira put the finishing touch on the whitewash with a goal in the final five minutes.

The Chill open the PDL season on June 4 in Kansas City, the first of three road games to start the 2010 campaign.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
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