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Mark Steenhuis had two goals and an assist to help lead the
Peterborough Lakers to an 8-5 win over Brampton.
(Photo: Tim Prothero)
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The Peterborough Lakers took over the
points lead in Major Series Lacrosse with an 8-5 win over the
Brampton Excelsiors Sunday night. Brampton shut the Lakers out for
the first 19:25 of the opening period and controlled play for most of
that 20 minutes. Momentum swung in Peterborough's favour when they
connected for a goal just before the shot clock expired. Mark Farthing threw a floor-length pass to Matt Crough, who had
to reach down below his knee to catch it on top of the crease and
immediately whipped a behind the back shot past Anthony Cosmo in the
Brampton goal.
The Lakers took control in the second
period and scored the frame's first three goals, including two in the
first three and a half minutes. The Excelsiors refused to go away,
though, and when Joe Resetarits scored late in the period,
they pulled to within a goal at 4-3, which was the score after 40
minutes.
Scott Evans connected a
long-distance bomb just 25 seconds into the third period to stretch
Peterborough's lead, but when Shane Scott and Resetarits each
buried their second of the game, it was all tied up at 5-5.
Both goaltenders were great in the
game. Cosmo stopped 42 of the 49 shots he faced, including several
spectacular saves and plenty where he was just perfectly positioned.
At the other end, Kurtis Wagar came on in relief after Tyler
Carlson gave up two goals on the first four shots he faced and
appeared to have hurt his left leg. Wagar made a sharp shoulder save
on the first shot he faced and just kept rolling, making 39 saves on
42 shots.
Something had to give at some point,
though, and what proved to be the game-winning goal came at 8:26
while the Lakers were shorthanded. Crouch didn't get a point on the
play, but he was the catalyst that made it possible. He ragged the
ball into the corner and was surrounded by three Brampton players
plus eventually Cosmo as Crough drifted behind the net fighting to
get and then regain control of the ball. The ball eventually popped
out to Pat Saunders, who flicked it to Shawn Evans, who
in turn ripped a cross-floor pass to Josh Gillam. Gillam threw
a few fakes as he tip-toed the crease line perfectly, then slammed
the ball home.
Mark Steenhuis extended the lead when
he buried a breakaway chance after receiving a perfect lob pass from
Brad Self, scoring with 1:30 to play. Crough rounded out the scoring
with an empty netter.
Lakers' Assistant Coach Joe Sullivan
said Peterborough was glad to get the two points, but was concerned
that “We started to play lacrosse when we had to, which is
something that we want to get away from. We want to play consistently
for the entire game and not turn it on when we have to because in
tight games that's tough to do. To create the consistency is what
we're trying to do here.”
Sullivan pointed out that, while it's
good to allow only 5 goals, “For us to not box out and do the small
things that sometimes win you those tough games is what we need to
work on. We didn't do that consistently enough. They only got 5 goals
and that's a credit to our goaltending and our offence was able to
put them away, but still some issues to work on.”
Brampton Head Coach Clem D'Orazio
admitted that being short a runner to start the game and then losing
newly signed defender John Rae (who had a very strong game in
his first outing with the team) midway through the second period made
it tough for them to keep pace in the third. “It's huge,”
D'Orazio said of Peterborough having an extra couple sets of legs.
“It gives you an extra push in the third period to push the ball up
the floor or have guys chasing transition where they were able to
push moreso in the third.”
D'Orazio said he was pleased with the
effort his team put out, even though he was disappointed in the
result. “Effort hasn't been a problem with this team all year.
We're consistently happy with that and we're going to stay happy with
that cause there's a lot of character guys in that room.”
