Friday, July 4, 2014

Brooklin downs Peterborough 11-9 to extend lead atop MSL standings, Chiefs keep pace with 7-4 win over Brampton

The Brooklin Redmen rode a four-goal run in the third period to an 11-9 win over the Peterborough Lakers, maintaining their lead over the Six Nations Chiefs at four points while pulling eight points ahead of the Lakers in third. Shawn Williams had yet another 5-assist game--his fourth along with one 6-assist game in seven contests this season--to lead the Redmen to the win. Curtis Knight, Shayne Jackson, Dan Lintner and Mark Cockerton all scored twice for Brooklin. Adam Jones had a hat trick for Peterborough, Mark Steenhuis 2 goals and 3 assists and Shawn Evans 4 assists.

In Brampton, Six Nations got a hat trick from Kasey Beirnes and 5 assists from Cody Jamieson to beat the Excelsiors 7-4. The Chiefs led 3-1 after the first period and 5-2 after the second en route to their seventh win of the season against five losses.

Peterborough jumped out to a 3-0 lead that could have been more, thoroughly controlling play and outshooting the Redmen, but Zach Higgins was excellent in the Brooklin net and the Redmen responded well to Peterborough pushes. Four times in the game Brooklin scored within a minute of a Peterborough goal, including after the third Lakers marker. That goal by Cockerton at the exact mid-point of the first period took a bit of the wind out of the 3,170 fans at the arena and started the Redmen on their way back into the game.


The score was 4-3 Peterborough after the first period and the Lakers extended the lead with the first goal of the second period, but again Cockerton responded quickly. The second ended in a 5-5 tie but with the Lakers holding a 38-27 edge in shots. They wound up outshooting the Redmen 56-41 for the game.

"We played well enough to win," said Brooklin Head Coach Wayne Colley. "They had a ton of shots, totally outshot us. Zach played very, very well tonight, got us two points, basically." Colley said that his team this year has a sense of poise that Brooklin hasn't had for a long time. "One quality the team has this year that we haven't had for probably 10 years is they don't panic. They just say, oh well, and pick away, pick away.
 
Peterborough Assistant Coach Bobby Keast said his team simply didn't play well enough to win. "It was just mental breakdowns at both ends of the floor. It wasn't one guy or a couple of guys. I thought the goaltending was good, the offence was average and the defence was average. When you're average in this league you're going to lose."

Steenhuis scored at 1:38 of the third period to put Peterborough back on top, but again the Redmen got right back into it, Knight scoring before the goal had even been announced, just 18 seconds later. Mike Teeter scored less than a minute later to put Brooklin ahead. Neither team could score for the next seven minutes, but when a goal came it definitely swung the momentum further Brooklin's way. Scott Gamble picked up a loose ball and went in with no one close to him to bounce a ball through Matt Vinc's legs. 

Knight followed that up with another goal 35 seconds later to pull the Redmen ahead 10-7. Peterborough fought back. They got a goal from Andrew Suitor on a beautiful three-way passing play on the breakout then Chad Culp pulled them within one goal with with 3:18 to play. But Lintner ripped home a dandy behind-the-back shot 28 seconds later to provide Brooklin with a bit of insurance and the final score of 11-9.