The Markham Waxers had their second chance in as many weeks to take over sole possession of first place, and again let it slip by.  Involved in a playoff type game with the rapidly surging St Mike's Buzzers, the Waxers lacked jump all night and played rather nervous, especially with the puck.  The trademark puck movement was no where to be found on this evening, and the loss was the first suffered in the Waxers' third jerseys.

The first period saw the teams exchange goals and end in a 1-1 draw.  The Waxers caught a break early in the game when an apparent Buzzers goal was disallowed by the referee.  The Buzzers would score a few minutes later to take the 1-0 lead after 3:15 had gone by.  Markham would answer back midway through the period on a Ryan Steane goal.  Mike Barrett (playing in his first game) kept the puck in at the blueline and sent a shot on net that was stopped.  Nathaniel Brooks chased down the rebound in the corner and cycled it behind the net to Steane, who banked the puck in to the net off the unsuspecting net minder for his 13th of the campaign.

St Mike's would take the lead a little over 6 minutes in to the second period, converting on a breakdown in defensive zone coverage by the Waxers.  Markham had started to dominate the play for the early part of the second period and it did not take them long to tie the game.  Less than two minutes later, Jamie Wright led a rush up the ice and after crossing the blueline fed the puck to Steane.  He found Brooks on the opposite side of the ice and Brooks quick shot caromed off the goalie's stick and slid along the goal line to Wright on the far post.  Wright buried it and the game was tied 2-2.  That seemed to be the end of the dominance by any one team as the game went back and forth from there.  A terrible play by Markham with just over three minutes left created a 2-on-0 breakaway for St Mike's and after the first shot went off the post, the trailer banged in the rebound for the game winning goal.

Certainly not the execution that Markham was looking for on such an important game but full marks to the Buzzers for the victory.  This game typified the South Division as every team has (and probably will continue) to beat almost every other team throughout the year.  The amazingly tight race for the top spot in the Division should make for a truly battle tested victor down the line come playoff time.

G A M E   S T A T I S T I C S

No.

 G

A

PTS

PIM

PPG

SHG

GWG

TOTALS