Junior Excelsiors routed again
Brampton 5 at Burlington 14
By Blue
June 11, 2001
BURLINGTON -- The Junior Excelsiors rolled into Central Arena last night with their 2-and-9 record. They took to the floor with their usual style and left with the usual result - a one-sided affair in favor of the home team.
It was actually not a bad little lacrosse game. It could hold a spectator's interest if he could manage to ignore the scoreboard. The E's are looking a little more disciplined this season and they put forth a competent effort. But Burlington had the edge in defense, passing and goaltending and they had more snipers in the line-up. Brampton had the edge in penalties but that didn't work to their advantage whatsoever.
Chuck Doxtater was primed for another big night. He started the scoring, taking a pass from Colm Rea and quickly squeezing his first of four goals under a falling Braden Deane. Mike Daley followed up 40 seconds later. Emerging from the corner he rounded the crease and dumped it back in the far side. He and Doxtater would net 6 points each in this match.
The Excels impressed me by avoiding their first penalty call until the 11:27 mark. Unfortunately they earned their second at 11:55. The Chiefs took full advantage on the 2-man-up and again on the man-up. Doxtator finished a snappy Daley/Taylor passing-play and then Daley converted a Doxtater feed with an outside ripper. 4-0 Chiefs.
Just when it was starting to look like the home side would run away with things… They did! Taylor winged an outside shot bound for the high left side - just inside the post. It looked like Deane had it covered until he moved the wrong way. 5-0 going into the second.
1st period shots: Brampton 12, Burlington 14
Chief 'keeper Ryan Avery looked good in the first. In the second he looked very good. In the early going the E's took it to the Chiefs and finally hit the scoreboard on a Sandy Chapman charge down the middle. They would not beat Avery again in the period.
Greg Tregunno responded instantly, starting the Chiefs en route to a 6-goal frame.
Jeff Brownlee backed his way to the net drawing two defenders. He dished to the wide-open Bill Willson who threw a skimmer under the crossbar. With a shot clock waning, Doxtater scooped the ball near centre, charged over the line and fired home a leaping bullet from way outside. This was right about the 10-minute mark and goalie Mark Craig emerged from the bench to play the second half.
I made use of the goalie time-out to investigate the Central Arena spectator mystery. The fan count had increased to 112 from the national anthem count of 74. Hmmmmm. I'll continue to keep an eye on this.
Taylor intercepted a long Excelsior pass and returned it up the floor to Merrick Thomson who scored from in close all alone. Later Trevor Wagar earned his second of four points. He teed up Doxtater for a boomer to the low corner. Then Nathan Gilchrist converted a behind-the-net feed from Daley. 11-1 at the second intermission.
2nd period shots: Brampton 14, Burlington 17
Derrick Ledingham continued the onslaught breaking in alone and dropping one over Craig's shoulder.
A face-off in the Chiefs zone saw the ball kicked back toward centre. Excelsior Brandon Smith tracked it down and floated it into Jeff Summerfield who faced Avery alone and whipped it by his arm. Tregunno responded almost immediately with a point-blank side-arm before the E's strung together three of their own to win the frame 4-to-3 and make the final score somewhat respectable.
Set up by Darren Naismith and Luke Forget, Smith fired home a high overhand from an angle. Three minutes later Smith fed a high pass to Dave Ingram at the top. Ingram jumped and hurled a mid-air quick-stick off the post and in. That was Brandon Smith's fourth point on four Brampton goals. They'd manage one without him though. An apparent loose ball near the Burlington crease had Avery reaching for it But Colin Holbrough snagged it first and hogswoggled Avery with a Duncan-Ross-style empty netter!
Trevor Wagar finished the scoring in spectacular style. He came out of the corner and slipped it by Craig on a flying-squirrel dive through the crease.
SHOTS
Brampton 12/14/13 - 39
Burlington 14/17/21 - 52
* Special thanks to Brine Boy for teaching me the word "hogswoggle". Hopefully I'll never have to use it again!
Next stop: Tonight - St. Kitts at Toronto.
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