Redmen Conquer the Excelsiors
By Mark Stehlin
Less than 24 hours after a 10-10 battle with the Six Nations Chiefs the Redmen were at it again, this time with a road trip to Brampton to face the Excelsiors. These teams have met twice this season, the first resulted in an 11-10 OT win for the Redmen and the second ended in a 12-12 OT tie. The two prior games were at Iroquois Park and last night's game and their fourth meeting will be at Brampton's Memorial Arena.
The Redmen jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first period. They stretched the lead to 7-0 with three goals in succession in the first two minutes of the middle frame. The Excelsiors did manage two goals in the second period but four more from the visitors and it was 11-2 after forty minutes. The Excelsiors showed some life in the third and won that period 4-1 but that would not be enough as the Redmen took the 12-6 win and with a record of (6-4-2) are in third in the standings just behind Peterborough (8-1-0), Six Nations is in top spot at (8-1-1).
Scorers for the Redmen were Austin Shanks and Dan Lintner with three each, two for Ryan Keenan and singles to Colton Watkinson, Adrian Sorichetti, Ryan MacSpadyen and John Lafontaine. Referees on the night, Dale Sett and Kyle Kropman (who handled the game vs Six Nations on Wednesday) handed out six minors for 12 minutes to the Redmen and 11 penalties for 44 minutes to the Excelsiors. The visitors went three for nine on the power play while the home side could not convert any extra man opportunities.
In other MSL action last night, the Cobourg Kodiaks scored their first win of the season with an 8-7 final over Peterborough at the Memorial Centre.
Next up for the Redmen is a stop in Six Nations on July 4 and then after a week off home on July 12 to host the Chiefs. The Redmen plan to honour the 30th anniversary of the 1987 Mann Cup champions at their game on July 19, 2017.