|
Excelsiors win in a last minute
thriller
The Brampton Excelsiors boarded the
bus to Peterborough on Thursday night, but got off
to a late start which saw them arrive only 40 minutes
prior to game time. After a quick warm-up the Excelsiors
were greeted by what is now the norm in Peterborough…a
large, vocal, and hostile crowd.
After trading power play opportunities
early in the game, Dan Teat blasted one past Collins
from the high right side. Peterborough was than
assessed a penalty for an error in the game sheet
and Dan Dawson was quick to capitalize on the power
play. Aaron Wilson scored his first of the night
halfway through the period on a nice feed from Colin
Doyle to give the Excelsiors a 3-0 lead. Doyle would
score one of his own short-handed on a long pass
from Jeff Shattler at the whistle. Matt Giles would
put the Lakers on the scoreboard to end the period
with a power play goal from John Grant to end the
period 4-1 Brampton.
The second started with a lot of
back and forth action, but no scoring. Jeff Shattler
and Kyle Sorenson dropped the gloves as tension
between the two teams continued to mount. Colin
Doyle added his second of the night to re-open the
4 goal lead and the Peterborough crowd was quieter
than I have ever heard. The penalty parade began
again, and much like the first meeting between the
two teams, Peterborough capitalized and began mounting
a come-back. John Grant blasted a short handed goal
with 7:30 to go, and Matt Giles went unnoticed coming
out of the box to score a breakaway goal. Kyle Laverty
scored a power-play goal a few minutes later and
the period ended 5-4 Brampton.
One minute into the third period
saw John Grant score his second of the game to tie
it up. The rough play continued and Scott Carnegie
got in a nice mix-up with Kyle Sorenson which saw
Kyle ejected from the game, but with the Excelsiors
having a two man advantage John grant beat off three
defenders to give Peterborough their first lead
of the game. Dan Teat managed to tie it up once
again after a 25 minute scoring drought for Brampton
and with 5 minutes left in the game the tension
was rising. With two minutes to go Colin Doyle drove
to the net and Peterborough got called for holding.
With the ball and the man advantage the Excelsiors
saw their opportunity. 15 seconds left in the game
and Colin Doyle managed to find Aaron Wilson alone
out front, and Aaron made no mistakes in finishing
off the come-back. The Excelsiors held off the defending
champion Peterborough Lakers to earn the 7-6 victory.
Brampton has the weekend off but
return to another busy stretch in the schedule.
Brampton is in Brooklin on Wednesday and then return
to the Powerade Centre on Thursday to try and get
redemption against the only team to have beaten
them so far, the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks. Saturday
will see the Excelsiors at home once again to take
on the Six Nations Chiefs. Blaine Manning should
be back in the line-up this Wednesday as he returns
from vacation.
|
