January 20th - Brampton v. Mississauga Game Report

by Jason Ray
#34 Newly acquired Brandon Maxwell made the start in Goal for the majors also #10 Andrew Goldberg made his debut tonight for the majors.

The game started at a great pace. Both teams showed great skating and puck control. The Battalion started to take the period over by winning the board battles deep in the Majors Zone. Brampton also began to step up their physical game throughout the period. Using the body gave the Troops the early lead as Captain Sam Carrick netted his 23^rd of the year. The troops domination in the first period was also seen on the shot clock as Brampton held Mississauga to 3 shots in the first period, shades of their Thursday night game versus Plymouth.

In the Second, the Majors came out with more force and were able to tie the game at one off the stick of former Sudbury Wolves forward Kris Kontos. The tie would not last long as the Majors would take the lead on the Power Play. The Majors work their typical setup to find Riley Brace just beside the net with a little tip in goal. The goal was his 23^rd of the year, but it wasn’t his last. 3 minutes after the Majors take the lead, Brampton score twice to take back the lead for a score of 3-2. Patrick Mahac and Alex O’Neil, their 10^th and 1^st of the season respectively. The Battalion would add to their lead and take a 4-2 lead heading into the 3^rd period. Captain Carrick would score his second of the game on the Power Play, 24^th on the year. After 40 minutes the Battalion out shot the Majors 30- 8.

Shots on goal would be a non factor in this game as the third period saw Mississauga apply the pressure as Brampton would play their defensive game and protect their two goal lead. Spencer Abraham would take a high sticking call at 11:42 in the third and even thought Brampton killed off the penalty. Seconds after Abraham took to the ice, the same power play setup of Kontos to Brace found the back of the net to make it a one goal game. With under 2 minutes left in the game BRA Dylan Blujus takes a tripping call which gives Mississauga their 6^th power play of the game and Riley Brace completes the hat trick and ties the game up at 4. The game was headed into Overtime with the ice tilted in favour of the Majors as they had put 12 shots on goal in the third while holding Brampton to only 6 shots.

Overtime did not decide the game so it was off to a shootout. After trading goals and saves the game was decided in the 8^th round when Justin Rasmussen scored and Brampton’s Mitchell Porowski could not extend the shootout to round 9.

Mississauga picked up the extra point in the game and closed the gap on the Division Leader, Brampton Battalion to 11 points. Brampton with their SOL remained in first place in the Central Division. Both Mississauga and Brampton have the night off on Saturdy but have home games Sunday Afternoon, Saginaw and Sudbury respectively.

Wednesday January 18th - Game Previews

by Dwayne Williams

Plymouth at Owen Sound
The Whalers bring their high powered offence into the wintery confines of the Bayshore arena in Owen Sound.  Plymouth is battling for top spot in the West – back and forth with the London Knights.  They have played in some high scoring matches recently – averaging 4.9 goals per game over the past 9 games. They have a very balanced scoring attack with a handful of players in the top 50 scorers in the OHL.  Owen Sound comes off a 2 victory homestand vs. the Erie Otters – where they weren’t pushed too hard in securing wins of 3-1 and 5-0.  Owen Sound is on a current 3 game home win streak as they battle in the middle of the standings – sitting only 2 points behind Sarnia sting for 4^th spot.
My prediction Plymouth 5 – Owen Sound 2

Mississauga at Belleville
The St. Mikes Majors find themselves sandwiched near the bottom of the standings but not far from the middle of the log-jammed Eastern Conference. They are 2 points from the #9 spot and 5 points from the #4 spot.  They had mixed results on their latest road trip–losing to Sarnia 7-1 beating Plymouth 2-0 and then losing to Saginaw 4-2.  The last time they scored more than 3 goals was in a 6-5 loss vs. Niagara 8 games ago.   Belleville is 1 point ahead of Mississauga in seventh place – as they continue to search for an elusive winning streak.  Their last home win was on Dec 17 - 10 games ago.  Subban is getting close to playing but don’t expect him to dress for game action quite yet.
My prediction Mississauga 3 – Belleville 1