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Regular
season re-cap
The Excelsiors entered the 2008
season with only one goal in mind…Mann Cup. With
this season marking the 125th anniversary of the
organization and a strong core of the team returning,
the Excelsiors looked to two familiar faces to help
add some kick to their offense as they announced
the return of Dan Dawson and Colin Doyle.
The first game of the season was
played in Six Nations, where although the team came
up with a victory (10-7) they also got a scare as
their leading point-getter for the last couple of
seasons Josh Sanderson went down in the first period.
Also getting sidelined in that game was defensive
stalwart Mike Kirk and veteran Cam Woods.
The coaches were pleasantly surprised
with the resiliency of the team as they continued
to battle and win with the added depth of new-comers
such as John McClure, Brendan Doran, Drew Petkoff
and Ian Llord. The team won their home opener against
the same Six Nations Chiefs 12-10 and in a true
show of determination traveled and won in St. Regis
6-4 with only 18 players.
Confidence seemed to get the best
of them as they were out worked and out played at
home against Kitchener losing the game in overtime
10-8.
They would go on to beat the 2007
champion Peterborough Lakers 13-9 (much to the joy
of the hometown fans) followed the next night with
an 11-3 victory in Barrie. They scored in the dying
seconds in Peterborough to secure a 7-6 win and
then beat Brooklin 14-8 before returning home to
face Kitchener once again. Kitchener once again
seemed to want it more and scored the game winner
(8-7) with 1 second to go in the game.
The Excelsiors dropped their 3rd
game of the young season 2 nights later to Six Nations
10-7 (once again at the Powerade Centre), but that
would be the last loss they would allow.
After hosting and defeating Brooklin
15-6, the Excelsiors took the Canada Day weekend
off and came back on a tear defeating Kitchener
11-6, St. Regis 13-10, and Barrie 11-3. This stretch
also saw the addition of Brampton native Ryan Campbell.
In front of 3200+ Peterborough fans the Excelsiors
walked out with a 10-10 tie and then secured first
place with a 9-5 victory against St. Regis.
They finished off with a 13-6 win
in Brooklin and a 15-7 outcome over Barrie in the
last game of the regular season.
The Mattamy Homes sponsored duo
of Anthony Cosmo and Brandon Miller once again allowed
the fewest number of goals in the league (26 goals
fewer than the next closest contenders). The revamped
offense managed to finish second in the league in
goals despite not having a single player in the
top 5 for goals or points. Captain Dan Teat took
the scoring crown for Brampton recording 25 goals
and 33 assists.
Brampton now faces the Brooklin
Redman in one half of the best of seven MSL semi-finals
after Brooklin knocked off the Kitchener-Waterloo
Kodiaks 3 games to 0 in their best of five series
last week.
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