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Brampton's
backs against the wall
After putting on a clinic in Peterborough
Thursday night on passing and ball control the Excelsior's
had hoped to take that momentum into game 5 Saturday
night in Brampton. With the best of seven series
tied at 2 games a piece this was an opportunity
to take control of the series before heading back
into Peterborough on Tuesday night. Unfortunately
things did not go as planned.
Once again, Brampton was able to
open up the scoring early as Mike Hominuck found
the back of the net just 90 seconds into the game.
The Lakers responded with a power-play marker 5
minutes later. Aaron Wilson would quickly regain
the lead for the home team. Peterborough would rattle
off 2 quick goals at the midway point of the period
to jump in front of the Excelsiors, but Josh Sanderson
would score a power-play goal of his own to tie
the game up once again. Blaine Manning would score
his first of the night on the next Brampton possession
which was countered by Peterborough and then countered
again by Blaine as the see-saw battle between the
two teams began to take shape. The Excelsiors would
go into the first break up 5-4.
Peterborough quickly capitalized
on an early power-play opportunity to bring the
teams back to even. Blaine Manning would complete
his natural hat-trick 4 minutes into the period
and would then add another on the power-play to
give the Excelsiors a 2 goal margin. Unfortunately
Peterborough would score the next 4 goals in quick
succession, the last two with the teams playing
4 on 4, and now it was the Lakers who had the momentum.
Down by 2 goals the Excelsiors were also down a
man as Peterborough had a 4 minute power-play to
work with halfway through the period. The Excelsiors
got the ball to Dan Dawson who proceeded to kill
the entire first 2 minutes before heading to the
bench, where Blaine Manning came on the floor as
relief only to find himself wide open with a lane
and he made no mistake and brought the Excelsior's
back within one. Manning would complete the double
natural hat-trick just seconds after the remaining
penalty expired to knot the teams up once again.
The period would end 9-9.
Brampton would come out hungry in
the third period, and Dan Dawson would regain the
lead for the Excelsior's less than two minutes in.
Peterborough would tie the game up once again and
then took the lead back with 12 minutes to go. The
two teams continued to trade off opportunities and
neither was able to capitalize on their lone power-play
chances within the last 10 minutes. It was Peterborough
that ended the scoring drought with 4 minutes to
go and they held off the Excelsior's last minute
attempts to secure the 12-10 victory.
The two teams will meet once again
in Peterborough on Tuesday night, and if the Excelsior's
can re-group and win in Peterborough once again
the momentous game 7 clash will take place in Brampton
on Thursday August 28th at 8:00 PM.
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