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MULTIMEDIA
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The Waxers were upset by the North York Rangers in
a strange game at Markham Centennial. After dominating the play almost entirely
in the opening period the Waxers lapsed defensively a few times and the Rangers
capitalized. The rest of the schedule before the Christmas break will be gut
check time for the blue and white, Saturday night they face the rival Thornhill
Rattlers before concluding their pre-break slate next weekend.
Right from the opening faceoff, thanks in part
to a delay of game call before the opening whistle against the Rangers, the
Waxers held the puck in Ranger territory for most of the first period. Five
minutes in Paul Robinson
made a terrific pass to James
Regan who wristed home the opening salvo, Patrick
Diotte earned the other helper. Midway through the period the Rangers
tied the score on a clearcut breakaway. With three minutes remaining Mark
Menonte fed Robinson who spotted an open Robert
Burrows who made no mistake, scoring his second in as many nights to
restore the lead at 2-1.
The Rangers came right back in the opening
minute of the middle frame, scoring on a powerplay to even things at 2-2. Late
in the period Adam Doucette
fed Andy Schofield in
the right slot and Schofield buried it, driving the puck through a maze of
traffic to give the Waxers the lead once again at 3-2.
Unfortunately the Waxers defensive play gave the
Rangers a pair of excellent scoring chances in the third and to their credit
they made them count to complete the upset. The equalizer was a back breaker,
coming on a Waxer powerplay when the Ranger attacker escaped for a breakaway
from the redline on a busted play. Later the go ahead goal came courtesy of a
Ranger 2-on-1.
The top two hits of the night came courtesy of
veteran forwards, in the first period Kevin
Tompkins crushed a Ranger at the Waxer blueline with a beautiful open
ice body slam and in the second period Adam Doucette leveled a Ranger at the
North York blueline with a thunderous smash, unfortunately the Waxers didn't do
much else in the way of hitting.
The Waxers need to re-commit to energetic and
smart hockey, taking advantage of the things that made them so successful
earlier in the year. Clearly the Waxers are feeling the effects of their
weakened lineup with Jimmy Ball,
Alex Stoyan and Mike
Stoyan creating a vacuum on the blueline. The absence of Jason
Duffy has been evident since he was hurt and with veteran Jason
Young also joining him on the shelf matters don't improve. Now the
Waxers need to look past those setbacks and unite to collectively
"cover" until the roster returns to full strength.
Clearly the club has the talent to succeed and
injuries happen to every club, perhaps the Waxers have been more snake bit than
usual and the boys in blue and white are a club of great character and personal
determination and will simply forget this game but not it's lessons.
The coaching staff has been a little frustrated
as probably everyone has been prone to be, including the players but the
ingredients for success remain, a great composition of talent in combination
with sound game plans, now it's just a matter of returning everyone's focus to
the basics and execution.
Quite likely the Waxers as can happen to any
club were looking beyond the Rangers, a fatal mistake in this case as was
discovered all too personally, however look for the Waxers to regroup and put
forth a solid effort against the front running Rattlers Saturday evening in
Thornhill.
| G A M
E S U M M A R Y |
PERIOD
1
1. Markham, Regan 7 (Robinson, Diotte), 5:32.
2. North York, Brown (Prodanovic), 8:11.
3. Markham, Burrows 6 (Robinson, Menonte), 16:44.
PENALTIES:
Bench NY (delay of game), 0:00; Prodanovic NY (slashing), 5:57.
PERIOD
2
4. North York, Robert (PP) (Prodanovic), 0:50.
5. Markham, Schofield 5 (ADoucette, Leclair), 19:35.
PENALTIES:
ADoucette Mar (kneeing), 0:21; Burrows Mar (tripping), 6:48;
Ferrante Mar (holding), 10:52; Mitchell Mar (roughing), Prodanovic
NY (roughing), 11:22; Willson NY (holding), 17:28.
PERIOD
3
6. North York, Robert (SH) (unassisted), 9:23.
7. North York, Duco (Bauer, Snowball), 11:30.
PENALTIES:
Snowball NY (slashing), 9:19; ADoucette Mar (misconduct), 18:39.
GOALTENDERS:
Markham: Dan Leclair. North York. Ken Grad.
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| SHOTS ON
GOAL |
P1 |
P2 |
P3 |
OT |
FINAL |
| NORTH
YORK RANGERS |
11 |
11 |
6 |
- |
28 |
| MARKHAM
WAXERS |
20 |
11 |
8 |
- |
39 |
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