Lakers
Even Series With Excelsior’s
Aug
20/07
By
Brian R. Johnston
Brampton, ON –
The
Peterborough Lakers entered game two of the best
of seven series against the Brampton Excelsior’s
needing a victory to even the series at a game apiece
and accomplished that by handing the home team their
first defeat of this year’s playoffs, with a 12
– 9 victory.
John
Grant (3) and Jason Crosbie (3) lead the goal scoring
parade for the Lakers with Ryan Sharpe (2), Scott
Evans (2), Josh Wasson (1) and Dan Carey (1) also
chipping in helping the Lakers offensively.
The
Excelsior goals went to Josh Harasym (2), Aaron
Wilson (2), Josh Sanderson (2) and singles added
by Blaine Manning, Mike Hominuk and Brodie Merrill
to round out the scoring for Brampton.
Fans
in attendance could hardly believe what they were
witnessing in the first period as the home side
was outscored by a margin of 6 – 1 and were out
shot 18 – 15 before the period had ended.
Brandon
Miller was left helpless by team mates that weren’t
on the same page which left him alone facing a storm
that continued to pick up momentum, even into the
second period as they struck twice more to open
up a 7 goal lead before Head Coach Troy Cordingley
sent out the hook to rescue both his goaltender
and his team from further disaster.
The
move proved extremely fruitful for the Excelsior’s
as it halted the bleeding to a major extent and
allowed his team to find the safety rope as they
had fallen into the deepest of caverns they had
experienced all year long.
The
Excelsiors made the most of things from the eight
minute mark of the second period to the next intermission
by scoring 5 uninterrupted goals to fight back and
get within two goals of the Lakers and setting up
an exciting finish in game two of the series. During
the second period, they fired 29 shots against the
Lakers Pat O’Toole and held a 44 – 27 shot advantage
at the end of two periods of play.
In
the third period, the Lakers rebounded to out hustle,
outwork and out score a spent Brampton Excelsior’s
squad by a 4 – 3 margin.
Needless
to say, Coach Cordingley didn’t mix any words when
he said, “At this level of play, at this time of
year, you need to have all 20 players show up with
only one common goal and that is to execute the
systems that have proven to be successful, not by
being on a different page from one another.”
The
Excelsior’s to their credit fought back and showed
the character that is part of their team by making
a game out of what would have been the biggest embarrassment
any of them could have experienced.
Game
3 of the series will take place in Peterborough
on Tuesday night and if both teams show up and play
a full sixty minutes to the best of their capabilities
it should prove to be the ultimate in Major Series
Lacrosse.
Don’t
miss the action!
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