The Brampton Excelsiors let the Six Nations Chiefs know they were in a game before Major Series Lacrosse's first-place team was able to pull away for a 22-14 win Thursday night. Brampton scored four straight second-period goals to take a 9-7 lead and were twice within a goal in the third before the Chiefs finished things off with seven unanswered goals.
Ryan Benesch had 4 goals and 2 assist for Six Nations and three other players had hat tricks for the Chiefs: Jeff Shattler and Randy Staats each added 5 assists to their 3 goals and Dhane Smith added 9 helpers to lead all scorers with 12 points.
Joe Resetarits led Brampton with 4 goals and an assist and defenders Kyle Rubisch and Sandy Chapman each had 2 goals (with Chapman adding 2 assists) for the Excels.
Peterborough remained two points behind Six Nations with a game in hand by downing the Brooklin Redmen 11-5. The shorthanded Redmen were able to stick with Peterborough for the first period and even took a 4-3 lead when Michael Teeter's second goal put them ahead 50 seconds into the second. Only having 14 runners to match up against Peterborough's potent roster hurt the Redmen, though, and Peterborough ran off seven straight goals in the second period to put the game away.
Curtis Dickson has 4 goals and Shawn Evans 3 goals for Peterborough, with each adding an assist. Turner Evans chipped in with 6 helpers and Adam Jones scored twice and added 3 assists. Evan Kirk was solid in goal for the Lakers, although he only faced 31 shots. Zack Higgins was sensational for Brooklin, keeping Peterborough from pulling away by stopping players with open looks and on breakaways. In all, he stopped 42 of the 53 shots he faced.
