Tuesday, May 15, 2012

LLB Live Quick Recap

Brampton Excelsiors at Burlington Chiefs


You’ve gotta love early season games where both teams are still down players due to US School commitments. Brampton was short Keane, Heseltine, Fereira and Newhouse from their regular lineup. Burlington was down most of the right side offence plus Cole from the left side.

The Chiefs make it plain as to their strategy. Run, run and run a bit more. In the first period they looked good in transition but were a bit rusty in completing passes when it counted and could only muster a 2 goal lead. Brampton tried to run with the Chiefs but that really isn’t their game and it showed.

Excelsiors coach, Dean George had obviously figured out that playing Burlington’s game was a path to failure and Brampton was noticeably better in shutting down the transition game of the home town team. They started to grind the defence down and that opened things up for them. Brampton dominated the first 15 minutes and save for a couple of Ethan O’Connor breakaway goals for the Chiefs, it was 8-0 for Brampton over this time. The tide had turned for the visitors.

The third was a tighter period as the Chiefs couldn’t muster much on their power play chances (taking penalties on offence while on the PP sure doesn’t help the cause) and were frustrated by Nate Barlow on a couple of opportunities. Brampton pushed the lead to 4 goals before giving up a couple in the last few minutes to make it a tight last 2 minutes. Not to worry for the boys in maroon as Burlington couldn’t cut the lead any further. Final score 13-11 for Brampton.

Burlington Star:
Ethan O’Connor was a force all game long. He finished with 2 and 2 but his speed in transition gave Brampton fits all night.

Brampton Star:
Wayne McCann finished with 2 and 4 before he was thrown out in the third on a hit from behind (the proper call). He was strong on looseballs and controlled the right side for Brampton.

Unsung Player of the Game:
Brandon Robinson (Brampton) had 2 and 1 but with some luck could have had 5 or 6 goals. He provided the size Brampton needed up front and helped clear a lot of space with his picks.

Full game Sheet:
http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=1905587