The Brooklin Redmen entered tonight’s game at the Powerade Centre fighting for their playoff lives and left wondering what might have been. The Excelsiors handed the Redmen a 13-2 loss and with a fourth straight win took the semi final series 4-2. Aaron Bold did his part as his team was outshot 58-32; the Brampton defence stifled Williams, Hopcroft and Co., as offence was hard to come by in this entire series for the Redmen.

The Redmen actually had the lead as Caleb Wiles scored with 11 minutes off the clock in the first, Cam Holding made it 2-1 late in the first as he cut across the front of the crease and deposited the ball in the top corner. The Redmen would not illuminate the red lamp behind Anthony Cosmo for the rest of the night.

The Excelsiors scored 12 goals unanswered to take the win. Wayne Colley sent his captain Derek Suddons out to request an equipment check on Cosmo with five minutes to go but that only resulted in a delay of game for the Redmen, as everything seemed in order.

Chris Williams and Dale Sett called three minors to the Excelsiors and eight to the Redmen, Brampton scored twice on the man advantage.

The Excelsiors will wait for the winner of the Lakers/Chiefs series (game 7 is Monday night in Peterborough) for the right to play in the Eastern Canadian Championship final series.

The Redmen will take solace in the fact that they finished second this year with a 13-7 record, vast improvement over last year. Some positives this year, solid goaltending thanks to Bold ably backed-up by John Chesebrough, the Redmen welcomed back Shawn Williams who took home hardware as league MVP and scoring champ with 120 points, second overall was Derek Hopcroft. Defence got tougher and another year of experience for some of the younger players can only help. Fans will now look forward to the 2012 season.

Scoring

Brooklin – Wiles (1), Holman (0,1), Brownell (0,1), Campbell (0,1), Holding (1)

Brampton – J Resetarits (3), Rubisch (0,1), Chapman (0,1), Dawson (1,3), Burton (2), Walters (1,4), Z Greer (2,1), Davis (0,3), Neufeld (0,1), B Greer (1), F Resetarits (1,4), Ross (0,1) Hominuk (2,3)

Brampton and Brooklin were tied in the series at two games apiece before the start of tonight’s game. The Redmen were looking to break the tie and had a 7-5 lead with 1:46 on the clock but they were not able to hold off the Excelsiors who scored late twice in 46 seconds to force overtime. The extra frame featured a pair of goals for Mike Hominuk and a single to Whitby product Zack Greer, Dustin Dunn, using Shawn Williams as a “decoy” had the lone Redmen marker for the 10-8 loss and 3-2 series lead in favour of Brampton.

The Redmen and Major Series Lacrosse both honoured Shawn Williams before the game, club president Ray Nolan and Redmen legend John Fusco presented Williams with a plaque to signify his all time Redmen records in Assists with 812, Goals with 652 and Points with 1,464 (thanks to Larry Power for the stats). Jim Brady, Commissioner of MSL presented Shawn with the Jim Murphy Award as league MVP and the Bucko McDonald Trophy as leading scorer with 120 points in 17 games, next closest was Derek Hopcroft Redmen team-mate who was an astonishing 36 points back.

Williams still had a smile on his face from the attention when he scored the first goal of the game with 4:43 off the clock; the Excelsiors scored that period as well for the 1-1 tie at the break.

The visitors opened the gap to 3-1 by the time the second period was five minutes old as the Redmen found themselves in some penalty trouble. Caleb Wiles scored shorthanded and Williams added his second halfway through the period and it was headed for 3-3 after two. It seems that Zack Greer did not get the memo as he scored on Aaron Bold with 32 seconds on the clock and the Excelsiors had a 4-3 lead.

Derek Hopcroft who recently signed with the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League had been quiet this series largely due to the fact that he has been a target of the Brampton defence closed the gap at 3:07, another by Wiles which came off the boards bouncing in off Anthony Cosmo’s stick closed the gap further and soon the score was 6-4 for the Redmen. Teams traded goals and as noted the 7-5 lead for Brooklin had dissolved before the buzzer went as it was 7-7 after regulation.

Game six is Sunday night at Brampton note game time is 8 pm. Game 7 if needed is Monday at 8 pm at IPSC.

Scoring

Brooklin – Bold (0,3), Suddons (0,1), Holman (0,1), Buchanan (0,4), Hopcroft (2), Matisz (1,2), Dunn (1), Wiles (2,1), Campbell (0,1), Williams (2)

Brampton – J Resetarits (1), Dawson (4,2), Davis (1,1), F Resetarits (0,3), Ross (2,2), Z Greer (3,2), Hominuk (3,2)

Brampton, ON

The Redmen came in to tonight’s game up 2-1 in the series looking to extinguish any momentum the Excelsiors may have taken the other night after an 11-7 win at Iroquois Park.  The Excelsiors on the other hand wanted to make this series a best two of three; the home team had their plan realized.

Both defenses were on display again tonight as each goalie was able to see the ball and make some crucial early stops that made them a big part of the game early on. The Excelsiors won the opening frame 2-0 with goals 1:30 apart, Dan Dawson’s goal came as Anthony Cosmo was on the bench for a delayed Redmen penalty.

The middle frame was identical in that teams were up and down the floor with Cosmo and Aaron Bold both continuing to make big stops. The home side scored twice more, one that Bold stopped but the energy behind the ball allowed it to trickle in, 4-0 for the Excelsiors after forty minutes.

The Excelsiors opened the gap with a goal four minutes in from Whitby product Zack Greer. Less than a minute later Steve Priolo and Shawn Williams found themselves in front of Cosmo, Williams fed Priolo who waited for the Brampton back-stop to go down before he coolly dropped it over his shoulder to ruin the shut-out. Redmen fans in attendance were hoping this was the start of something good and sure enough the Redmen reeled off three straight in two and a half minutes to close the gap to 5-4 with 7:35 on the clock. Jarrett Davis scored to increase the lead to two goals again and it stayed that way, 6-4 for the Excelsiors and a 2-2 series.

Things got heated in the third, of the 28 total penalty minutes that Shawn Grenier and Wayne Paddick called on the night 24 of them occurred in that frame thanks in part to a tilt between Dan Ball for the Redmen and Tyler Burton for the Excelsiors. The Redmen did manage one goal on the man advantage.

The scene shifts to Whitby for game five on Thursday night at 8 pm. The Redmen will have to regroup and focus on the numerous positive aspects of the 2011 season so far and come out playing with fire to keep the Excelsiors at bay.

The Redmen will have a pre-game ceremony to honour Shawn Williams who was named leading scorer and MVP for the 2011 season today by the league.

Game six is Sunday night at Brampton at 7 pm. Game 7 if needed is Monday at 8 pm at IPSC.

Scoring

Brooklin – Priolo (1), Buchanan (1), Hopcroft (0,2), McNulty (0,1), Williams (1,1), Cotter (1,1)

Brampton – Cosmo (0,1), J Resetarits (0,1), Rubisch (1), Dawson (2,1), Walters (0,1), Davis (1,1), B Greer (0,1), F Resetarits (0,1), Ross (1), Z Greer (1)