Toronto 12 Orillia 10

BACK TO BEACHES

by thistles forever - Game #28

RAMA - Facing elimination, Toronto survived a slow start, managed to
stay in contention despite a useless power play, then prevailed at the
end of a frantic third period to defeat Orillia 12-10 and even their
best of seven series at 3-3. A gritty performance fom the Beach Boys.
A tremendous night of entertainment for the big crown in attendance.

The Beaches began tentatively and looked awful for the first 17
minutes. This was the period Orillia should have put the series away.
They didn't. Great work by Todd Holinshead led to his hitting Troy
Thompson coming off the bench for a shorthanded marker. That same
Toronto power play the Kings dominated, buzzing around John McLellan's
goal and threatening to score more. Later Justin Hill put them up 2-0.
That was followed by a 4 on 3 advantage for the home side. This was
where we could see something wasn't right. All their top guns were on
the floor, yet they looked incredibly complacent. The power play
amounted to nothing. Shorthanded Orillia struck a second time as
Andrew Hawke made it 3-0. Then the Kings simply faded away - as if
they figured they'd already won the series. Toronto was brought to
life late in the period. A Garret Kikot fast break was their first
decent scoring opportunity of the game. Seconds later Kikot set up
Matt Holman for another chance. Finally Kikot scored by picking the
top corner from outside. Bobby McBride followed that with a second
goal. The period ended 3-2 Orillia as they outshot Toronto 15-12.

The visitors had dodged a bullet. With Luke Wiles hitting a crossbar
early and Chad Thompson rattling another shot off the inside of the
post, their early advantage could have been much greater than three
goals. And that's not to forget the chances Jeff Zywicki had. But it
was not to be Zywicki's night as he went goalless.

The second period was the Kings turn not to show up. Toronto hit them
with two goals early and outshot them 9-1 by the 7 minute mark. Andy
Rohmer extended the lead to 5-3 before Chad Thompson got one back for
the Kings. The Beaches had a period shot edge of 19-10. 5-4 heading
to the third.

What a third period it was! It's been a long, long time since I last
saw such pace in the third period of a playoff game. Both teams threw
caution to the wind and went all out to score. Toronto stayed with
Orillia thanks to timely goals exactly when they needed them.

After terrific goaltending from both McLellan and Preece, Derek Lowe
got the scoring started. Kyle Wailes set up McBride a minute later and
Toronto led again. By the 5 minute mark it was 6-6 courtesy of Chad
Thompson. The next possession McBride cut through the middle to score.
On the power play Beaches had their lone success of the night. Kikot
scored from the point(the third pointman they'd used in the game).
Holinshead and Brock Boynton then combined for an unlikely goal.
Boynton managed an over the head one handed back pass to Holinshead and
he scored. The pass barely cleared McBride's head but he couldn't
react in time to intercept it. Off the next draw Patrick Magee made it
9-7 Beaches.

The scoring barrage calmed slightly the last half of the period. Chad
Thompson struck yet again after consecutive Toronto breakaways. With
only a 9-8 lead the next five minutes were nervous ones for the
visitors. Relief came with 3 minutes left as Bobby McBride scored once
again. Wailes then set up Andy Rohmer to make it 11-8. The Kings
didn't quit. Chad Thompson scored with 90 seconds remaining. For the
following draw Jim Meredith pulled his goaltender. This was the right
decision as Orillia needed possession and they couldn't afford to wait
30 seconds. Alas Toronto got possession and the Kings couldn't stay on
their checks. A three on one led to an easy Matt Holman goal. The home
side scored once more late, on their second power play of the contest.
They also kept their big stars on the floor the last 30 seconds, though
they had no realistic chance of tying it. Sure enough Troy Thompson
took quite a shot and left the floor injured. 12-10 Beaches. On to
Friday night!

Great goaltending in this one among other things. John McLellan faced
23 shots the third period yet prevented his team from ever falling
behind. J.Preece was sort of abandoned by his defence as the Kings
pushed forward time and again. On the game Toronto had a 49-48 shot
advantage. They also enjoyed 5 power plays, scoring once. Orillia
scored a pair shorthanded. The Kings went 1/2 when they had a man
advantage.

NOTE: Yes we ended up in Orillia. That wasn't suppose to be the plan,
not with the Lakers hosting Brampton or the Gaels in sudden death with
Barrie or the big game at the BunnyBarn. Still we were Rama bound. We
heard something about the Pope performing at Casino Rama - couldn't
resist the papal call. "COME ON RED FOUR!!! DON'T DOUBLE DOWN ON
EIGHTEEN!!! Where there's a need, God's representative on earth can be
found.