Pickering got on the board early in the first for the quick 1-0 lead before the Waxers were able to respond in the final two minutes of the period.  Patrick Diotte carried the puck through the neutral zone and dumped it and some good forechecking caused a turnover that found its way back to Diotte.  His point shot hit the Panther goalie and in the ensuing scramble, Jesse Boucher whacked at the puck and Travis O'Rourke corralled that rebound and shovelled it over the tender for the 1-1 tie after 20 minutes.

Pickering scored early in the second to take a 2-1 lead which stood for the next 7 minutes.  The Waxers tied the game at 2-2 when Jason Duffy fed Joey Grasso coming out the zone and Grasso carried the puck in to the Panther end.  Grasso dropped the puck to Matt Neely whose one-timer was stopped by the goalie and Grasso was there on the doorstep to slam home the rebound.  Less than two minutes later, the Waxers grabbed a shortlived lead when Ben Cottreau scored his 15th of the year.  Kevin Cribari and Boucher cycled the puck behind the net before Cribari centred to Cottreau.  The puck was deflected up in the air and hit Cottreau as he heade to the net.  The puck hit the goalie in the chest and dropped by his feet and Cottreau smacked the puck under the goalie a split second before he could cover it.  Pickering responded with 2 goals in the next 2:30 to recapture the lead with 3:59 left in the period.  Markham changed goalies at that point, sending in Chris Lawrence for Kevin Sit, and took over the game from that point.  Numerous chances were thwarted before the Waxers were able to tie the game at 4-4 with just 26 seconds left on the clock in the second.  While on the powerplay, Cribari and Neely combined to create an open shot for Neely and his blast was redirected by Ryan Steane, his first of three on the night.

The third period was all Markham as they scored 5 goals on 17 shots.  Boucher scored the game winner on the first shift of the period when after taking a clearing pass from Cribari, he hit the red line and dumped the puck in. O'Rourke won the race to the puck and Boucher won the race to the front of the net and buried the centering pass for the 5-4 lead and his first of two on the night.  Steane got his second of the night 3 minutes later when Diotte and Michael Fish moved the puck back and forth before Fish found Steane in the slot and he beat the goalie low, glove side.  Derek Doucette then scored his 13th of the year when he followed up a Boucher breakaway and stuffed home the rebound for the 7-4 lead. Steane then finished off the hat trick after a pretty set up in front of the net from Doucette while on the powerplay leaving him a wide open net for the goal. Cribari picked up assists on those to goals, giving him 5 on the evening. Boucher finished the scoring with 5:49 left on the clock when he deked the goalie while left in front after Grasso picked off the puck at the blueline, fed Cottreau in the corner who found Boucher in front.

A fairly wide open game that apparently had the shots 51-49 in favour of the Waxers.  Not sure there were that many shots but certainly the big ice surface in Pickering lent itself to shinny hockey at times.

G A M E   S T A T I S T I C S

No.

 G

A

PTS

PIM

PPG

SHG

GWG

TOTALS