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Excelsior's
complete Semi-Final Sweep
The Excelsior's went into Friday
night's contest a little more leery after almost
losing on Wednesday before an amazing comeback gave
them the 3-0 series lead. They knew that they would
require a solid 60 minute effort if they were going
to come away with the victory and a berth into the
MSL championships.
With the OLA Festival still in full
swing, the Brampton squad found that the floor was
not going to be available until 15 minutes prior
to game-time. They took the news in stride and proceeded
to go through their full stretch and warm-up in
the parking lot of IPSC much to the delight of all
the young spectators.
The Excelsior's jumped out to a
quick start with goals from Wilson and Dan Dawson
coming inside of the first 90 seconds. Brooklin
then responded with one of their own at the 2 minute
mark. 5 minutes into the came the gloves came off
as Colin Doyle took on Scott Gamble in a rare fight
for the offensive powerhouse and he held his own
in the bout, but took an extra 2 minutes for the
altercation. Patrick Merrill then took a high-sticking
penalty 45 seconds later to give Brooklin a two
man advantage. Brampton's solid defense was able
to kill off both power-plays and then the offense
began to roll again as Blaine Manning netted his
first of the night at the half-way point of the
period. Rookie John McClure would score the next
goal in his first playoff game 2 minutes later followed
by another by Manning to give the Excelsiors a 5-1
lead. Brooklin would score another to leave the
game at 5-2 at the end of the first.
The second period started off with
Harasym and Griffiths exchanging penalties and Brampton
would capitalize on the four on four situation with
two fast break markers coming from Wilson and Hominuck
to extend the Brampton lead to 5. Brooklin would
get a four on four goal of their own 5 minutes later.
The teams traded goals in the second half of the
period to give the Excelsior's an 8-4 lead going
into the last frame.
Just over 6 minutes into the final
period, Brooklin would close the gap to 3 with the
3rd goal of the night from their captain Shawn Williams,
but this would be the last goal the Redmen would
score in 2008. Brampton would rattle off 3 more
goals (Patrick and Brodie Merrill, and Dan Dawson)
before the game ended, and with an 11-5 win the
Excelsior's move on to the MSL Championships once
again.
The Excelsior's now await the outcome
of the other semi-final series between Peterborough
and St. Regis, in which Peterborough holds a 3-1
series lead. Details and a schedule will follow
as soon as confirmed, but the Excelsior's will host
the winner in game 1 of the finals on either Thursday
or Friday this week.
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