MULTIMEDIA

The Waxers had several outstanding scoring chances in the opening period, one that was probably accurately an omen of the breaks that Markham would get this night (not many of those). The best chance came off the stick of James Regan who slid one along the ice into a maze of traffic only to see the puck carom away harmlessly after striking the post. The Panthers scored the lone goal of the opening period, on a powerplay with five minutes remaining.

In a contest that was absent physical contact for the most part, Mike Stoyan did his part when he absolutely leveled a Panther around the defensive blueline, unfortunately the Waxers left their physical game off the ice, probably entwined with the variety of emotions after the pre-game ceremony.

Early in the second period Kevin Tompkins scored perhaps the highlight goal of the year when he raced up the right wing and despite being hooked and held relentlessly, he managed to one-hand the puck past the Panther keeper, memories of some highlight Mario Lemieux goals immediately came to mind. If there was a goal to describe pure guts and and a relentless competitive drive and the will to win, Tompkins goal was it. Jesse Boucher and Derek Doucette drew assists on the tying goal. The goal was the Captain's 18th of the year, half of them coming since the beginning of the calendar year as the veteran leader of the blue and white has stepped up his game to another level as if he hadn't already been  among the league's elite.

The tie was very shortlived however as the Panthers struck for their second powerplay goal a minute later to restore their one goal advantage. Just over two minutes later they stretched their lead to two goals.

In a move that was scripted prior to the start of the contest, starter Rick Marnon gave way to fellow graduating Waxer Dan Leclair past the midway point of the contest. At times the game resembled an All-Star contest, especially with the lack of physical contact, despite the tame affair the Waxers found themselves in penalty trouble for much of the contest.

Late in the second Derek Doucette unleashed a howitzeer from the area near the left faceoff circle, Boucher and Tompkins with the assists. It was Derek's third goal in his past two games, none of them "cheap" ones, don't know what kind of porridge the Doucette family has for breakfast but there might be a long lineup at their front door the way Derek and Adam Doucette have been playing since joining the blue and white.

Midway through the third the Waxers broke out on a 2-on-1, Regan taking the feed from Patrick Diotte and streaking down the right wing, Adam Doucette barrelled up the middle and slightly behind and Regan fooled just about everyone in the building when he made a smart decision upon seeing lots of mesh and wired one home for the tying goal. This clearly is an example of how flawed the statistical system is as there is no doubt that the presence of the elder Doucette contributed greatly to the resulting gaping cage that greeted Regan on his rush.

Overtime ended relatively swiftly with the Panthers scoring on a redirect just over a minute in, spoiling the Waxers unblemished but still very respectable extra session record which now stands at (3-1-2, wins, losses, ties).

Waxers next travel to North York on Saturday (Feb. 3) before concluding their regular season in Oshawa on Tuesday night. The playoff picture is clearing and still unsettled but the Waxers control their own destiny and would like to wrap up third place Saturday. Their opponent in the first round, that's a story that we'll just have to await to unfold.

G A M E   S T A T I S T I C S

No.

 G

A

PTS

PIM

PPG

SHG

GWG

TOTALS