Excelsior’s
Open Playoff’s
With a Win
By
Brian R. Johnston
Brampton, ON –
The
Brampton Excelsior’s opened their best of five,
first round playoff series against the Kitchener-Waterloo
Kodiaks with an 11 – 6 at the Powerade Centre on
Thursday night.
Not
only was the opening game of the playoffs a motivation
against the Kodiaks, for the Excelsior’s, they were
out to avenge the spanking that was handed to them
the last time the played in Kitchener, when they
were beaten 12 – 6 in a lack luster effort.
The
Excelsior scoring was spread out amongst seven players;
Aaron Wilson (3),Shawn Holmes (2), Jeff Shatler
(2), Sandy Chapman (1), Blaine Manning (1), Brodie
Merrill (1) and J.J. Dickie (1) as they netted 11
goals in the game.
Joel
Wilson (1), Dale Brown (1), Kevin Ross (1), Ryan
Benesch (1) and Drew Candy responded for the Kodiaks.
In
what was a far better effort by the home side than
the previous four games of the regular schedule,
only a disappointingly sparse crowd was on hand
to see the Excelsior’s take a 1 – 0 lead in the
series.
Brampton
fans that were on hand witnessed Brodie Merrill’s
100th point in the MSL and a solid effort by Shawn
Holmes who was the sparkplug for a team that appeared
much more focused on what was necessary to secure
the victory.
Head
Coach Troy Cordingley said, “We played a very good
first and third period in all areas of the game,
but we seemed to flatten out in the second period
from a defensive standpoint which allowed the Kodiaks
to score 4 times.”
“We
had managed to fend off the oppositions power play
on 5 separate occasions in the first period and
came away with a 3 – 1 lead going into the intermission,
but in the second period, we got away from our defensive
system that had served us well prior to re-focusing
our efforts in the third frame.” He continued.
Game
two of the series will now shift to Kitchener on
Saturday night and the Excelsior’s will need to
continue to play with the same intensity in order
to fend off a young, fast and determined Kodiak
squad that intends on evening the series at a game
apiece.
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