By Brian R. Johnston
Brampton, ON –

The Brampton Excelsior’s were hard spent to eliminate the Brooklin Redmen from playoff contention and to keep their hopes alive for the best case scenario of finishing in second place, thus receiving a bye in the first round of the playoffs with a gritty 9 – 8 win at the Powerade Centre in Brampton.

Josh Sanderson (3 goals, 4 assists), John Harasym (1 goal, 1 assist), Aaron Wilson (2 goals, 1 assist) Jeff Shatler ( 2 goals), Patrick Merrill (1 goal) and Dan Teat (5 assists) all participated in the scoring for Brampton as they managed to edge a gutsy and determined squad from Brooklin.

Mike Accursi (2 goals, 2 assists), Jamie Taylor (1 goal, 1 assist), Stephen Hoar (1 goal), Shawn Williams (1 goal, 5 assists), Charlie Sidler ( 2 goals), Dave Campbell (1 goal), Bobby McBride (1 assist), Colin Baker (2 assists), Tyler Perry (1 assist) and Colin Baker (2 assists) all contributed points in a losing cause, as the Redmen went down fighting to the very end.

Head Coach Ian McGough of the Redmen pulled out all the stops in giving his team the best possible opportunity to extend their season, as first of all he took a chance and had the Brampton starting goalie , (Brandon Miller) tossed from the game for illegal equipment (no chin cup on his head gear) and then called for a measurement of Anthony Cosmo’s equipment in the hopes of having him ejected as well, but that move back fired and resulted in his club taking a 2 minute minor, that all but sealed their fate.

Cordingley spoke volumes of his teams effort in the last period while playing for over 8 minutes while facing 6 on 5 situations and numerous man power dis-advantages. We were extremely focused on ball movement and proved that we were more than capable of holding a narrow lead, to assure the victory.

The very best that the Excelsior’s can hope for is to finish in second place, but to have any chance; they need both a victory this coming Sunday over Peterborough at the Powerade Centre and for Barrie lose in St. Regis that same afternoon. If that scenario were to occur, then Peterborough would finish first and Brampton would end up second, and Barrie would wind up in third.

The worse case would see them finish in third place and having the home team advantage while facing Kitchener-Waterloo in first round action.