MULTIMEDIA

The Waxers finished off their season series and the home-and-away mini-series against the Panthers at Centennial Arena. After eking out an overtime victory against Pickering Sunday night this one had the makings for a competitive hockey game and it fulfilled it's prior billing.

After the Panthers broke the ice just before the midway point of the opening period the Waxers went to work and answered back quickly and with a vengeance. Paul Robinson scored his third in the past two games against the Panthers to even the score at 1-1. Jason Fraccaro and Greg Chambers drew assists. Then just 45 seconds later, still on the same shift the line struck again, this time it was Fraccaro who notched the marker a beauty and one that would prove to be the game winner although nobody would have known it at the time. With the Waxers pressuring deep in Panther territory Fraccaro was camped in front of the Pickering goal just outside of the crease and was knocked to the ice, then while lying flat on his belly he spotted the loose puck just out of the reach of the Panther netminder and alertly swung his stick and along the ice surface and slide the disc into the cage. A goal scorer's goal and we've only just begun to see what this young man's all about.

The scoring would conclude in the second period. With the Waxers enjoying a rare powerplay opportunity, one of three that they'd receive this night, Rob Mazzuca wired a one-timer off the iron and into the cage after receiving the feed from Tom Kotsopoulos. Kevin Tompkins picked up the other assist. The helpless Panther netminder had absolutely no chance on the play and after having a shaky outing on Sunday night that saw him turn aside just two out of five shots in the opening frame prior to being relieved he put on a pretty display of netminding.

The contest marked the end of the Tompkins goal scoring string, he had scored in every game since the New Year up until this point, while he didn't score there was no let up in his play at both ends of the rink and full marks to the captain and the entire lineup for a solid effort that was interrupted at times by confinement in the penalty box. Nobody knows better than the Waxers that they need to continue to work on their team discipline and they've done a tremendous job of it lately and there's no reason to believe that what we are seeing from the Waxers lately is an interim blip in what's been a less than spectacular year.

The entire program for this season was setback in a serious way when the Waxers went through an unbelievable string of injuries, now they are mostly healthy, save for one key component and the results are showing as the club has bought into the philosophy preached by the suits (coaches) and are doing an outstanding job of sticking to the game plan.

A great deal of credit needs to be given to the ownership group of the club, they've made the wise choice in choosing not to interfere with the operations of the day-to-day activities of the hockey club. For that all Waxers fans should be grateful that there is a solid and sensible management hierarchy in place with the Waxers, a hierarchy that will begin to re-establish the tremendous winning tradition that has been Waxer hockey for so many years.

The best part about it is that we've yet to see the Waxers at their best, where everyone has a great game, when that happens woe to the club that is at the receiving end.

Both clubs were full marks for their hard work and strong effort at both ends of the rink, as usual Jeremy Wenzel proved to be the difference this night as he turned aside 40 of 41 shots he faced including 29 in the final two periods when the Waxers ran into some penalty difficulties.

G A M E   S T A T I S T I C S

No.

 G

A

PTS

PIM

PPG

SHG

GWG

TOTALS