2007 WRAP
UP
First let me thank
all the volunteers that helped me survive my inaugural
season:
Selling souvenirs,
Karen Brannon and Ruth Sharpe.
Running the 50/50 and program sales Joyce Job.
Down in the booth Jim Doig announcing and my replacement
on the clock Mark Gaudett.
Upstairs we had Herb Phillips running the 30, Ziggy
trying to keep track of the stats and Gary Morrison
and Ivan combining for the music and filming.
We would also like to welcome and thank Kelly West
for providing some much needed massage therapy as
well as all the rest of the work she did behind
the scenes.
We were short an equipment manager all year, and
I would like to add a special thank you to the extra
effort put in by Steve Kopas, Kelly West, Mike Smith,
and Jeff Teat who helped keep everything running
as smoothly as possible.
And, at the front door and so much more…Linda Litchfield
and Nan Teat.
We had a very volatile
season in 2007.
We came out of the
gates lacking several key players either due to
injury or poor timing. Troy managed to fill those
spots as best as he could, including sending Paul
Dawson out as a defender in only the second game
of the season, and we managed to get off to an incredible
start…and then there was Barrie. Somehow Barrie
had our number all year beating us all three times
we faced them in the regular season. Barrie was
the only team that we lost the regular season series
to, but that was enough to drop us to third after
an upset loss to Kitchener late in the season.
We entered the playoffs
having lost 3 of the past 4 games and faced Kitchener
in the best 3 out of 5 series. After taking game
1 handily the team found themselves down by 4 with
6 minutes to go in game 2 in Kitchener. The team
dug down hard and managed to pull off a huge comeback
victory showing true character in the effort. We
were able to finish off the sweep and had a break
before heading into the next round against who other
than Barrie.
This team went into
Barrie on the August long weekend looking for redemption.
And they got back everything they gave. Although
on paper it might look as though the Excelsiors
walked all over Barrie in a four game sweep it was
most definitely not the case. The first three games
saw the Excelsiors down entering the third period.
The whole team answered the call though and came
back to fight and claw their way to victory. Most
impressive during this series was the team defense
and outstanding goaltending of Anthony Cosmo and
Brandon Miller. In game 2 of this series Dan Teat
popped in his 500th career goal, an impressive achievement
made even more so by the fact that every one of
them came in an Excelsior jersey.
This set the stage
for what has become the norm, Brampton vs. Peterborough
in the Ontario final. Brampton took game 1 in Peterborough
in impressive fashion but were unable to capitalize
in Brampton for game 2. Game 3 in Peterborough was
another huge win which sent Brampton home up two
games to one. Game 4 was intense and was definitely
a turning point. A win would have sent us back to
Peterborough (where we had not lost all year) 1
win away from a trip to the Mann Cup. Although Peterborough
was up, due to some last minute heroics the game
was sent into overtime. One overtime period was
not enough as the teams traded goals, sending it
into sudden death. The Excelsiors came out flying
and just missed on their first touch but the Lakers
were quick to respond and took the game 11-10. This
loss seemed to let the wind out of the Excelsiors
sails and Peterborough took the next two games and
the Ontario championship in game 6 in Brampton.
They did go on to claim the Mann Cup in Coquitlam.
The only thing that will satisfy this team next
year is to bring the cup back home to Brampton.
Our 2007 award winners:
The scoring leader
was once again Josh Sanderson. Josh has also been
awarded the Jimmy Madgett Memorial Trophy for most
valuable player of the Regular season. These honours
are even more impressive in the fact that Josh managed
to convince his wife to hold off going into labour
until after we finished our opening weekend series
where we leaned heavily on his experience and leadership
on the floor.
The winner of the
Bill Wanless Memorial Trophy goes to Jeff Shattler.
In only his second full year with the Excelsiors
Jeff has become a great go-to guy when in a crunch.
He also received the Toshiba Player of the Series
for both the Finals and semi-finals.
The Jack Burrell Memorial
Trophy for most valuable defensive player is awarded
to our outstanding goaltending duo of Brandon Miller
and Anthony Cosmo. Both players were also honoured
with the Harry Lumley Award for the lowest goals
against average in the league.
This years rookie
of the year was a very tough decision. In the end
we had to award it to both of them. Scott Carnegie
much like his brother came out of the Brampton Junior
club and didn’t miss a step. His transition to Majors
and Troy’s defensive system appeared seamless. Paul
Dawson on the other hand was asked to join the same
tough defensive unit having not played out of the
net for many years. Although it wasn’t always pretty,
Paul put in a lot of extra work and earned his way
onto one of the best defenses the league has ever
seen…he also doled out his frustration on the other
teams quite handily.
This year’s unsung
hero is awarded to Mike Carnegie. Last year Mike
won the Rookie award and that effort and determination
continued to shine through. Bottom line is that
Mike is and does whatever is asked of him and is
part of the foundation of Brampton teams to come.
A relatively new award
that we present is the Brannon Steel Spirit award.
The idea behind this is that players can also be
an asset in the dressing room and on the bench.
Whether it be through motivation or a positive attitude,
this award is presented to the player that contributes
not only on the floor but off the floor as well.
This year Phil Sanderson has won this recognition
while proving that you can have a loud voice even
if it is small.
More updates to follow
after the draft this February…
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