Markham opened December looking to rebound from a disappointing loss on their last November game and the Waxers took out their frustrations on the host North York Rangers in an 8-3 victory to recapture first place.

The game was dictated by Markham from the onset, and after numerous chances in the first period, the Waxers took a 1-0 lead in to the intermission.  Mike Barrett provided the scoring on his first Waxer goal, a power play marker at the 3:36 mark of the first.  Ben Cottreau won the faceoff deep in North York's end and Kevin Cribari slid the puck across the blueline to Barrett, whose blast redirected into the net off a Ranger defenseman just 4 seconds in to the man advantage.

The second period was a wild as the two teams combined for 7 goalsin the first 12 minutes of play.  Pat Porretta scored his 20th of the year, and first of two on the evening, in the first minute of the period, on a shorthanded rush up the ice.  Barrett had intercepted a pass at the Markham blueline and sent the puck up ice to Cribari.  He laid the puck out in to an area where only Porretta could get it and a split second later, the puck was in the net as Porretta's lightining quick release fooled everyone.  North York got on the board three minutes later but the Waxers would regain the two goal advantage on a Jamie Wright goal a few minutes after.  Stephen Wong and Jeff Weiss provided the forechecking and Wong sent a beautiful backhand saucer pass to Wright who snuck in to the high slot.  Wright's low wrist shot beat the goalie on the stick side.  The Rangers clawed back to make it 3-2 before the Waxers opened the game up scoring twice more in 1:31.  First it was Porretta again, adding his second of the night, this time on the power play.  Assisting on the goal were Barrett and Cottreau.  Then, Wright danced in from the blueline with the puck and after feeding Daniel Torres, his shot was stopped and Liam Bowen was there to tap home the rebound for the 5-2 lead.  North York would score their final goal off the ensuing faceoff and that rounded out the scoring in the second.

The Waxers completely dominated the remainder of the game, allowing only 6 Rangers shots in the final 28 minutes of play.  The third period was all Markham as they scored three times to seal the deal.  First, on a play where all 5 players on the ice touched the puck, Wong and Torres assisted on a Mark Menonte rebound goal 8 minutes in to the period.  Then, in a span of 17 seconds in the dying minutes, Tony Rossi struck twice.  The first was when he banged in the rebound after Torres had set up Nathaniel Brooks in the slot.  The second was when he was sprung on a breakaway, with assists to Cribari and Mike Diamond, which he finished with a beautiful fake slapshot and deke.

Anthony Guadagnolo stopped 23 shots for his 13th victory of the year.  With Porretta hitting the 20 goal plateau, the Waxers now have three 20 goal scorers and another three in double digits after only 29 games.

G A M E   S T A T I S T I C S

No.

 G

A

PTS

PIM

PPG

SHG

GWG

TOTALS