Lakers hold off rally for win over Brampton
Holden Cattoni leads offence with five goals in narrow 14-12 win
Peterborough Century 21 Lakers are leaning left and we’re not talking politically.
The left-side of their offence accounted for 11 goals in a 14-12 win over the Brampton Excelsiors before 2,558 fans at the PMC Thursday night.
Lefty shooters Holden Cattoni, Corey Small and Turner Evans fired five, four and two goals, respectively. The Lakers (6-1) moved back atop the MSL standings ahead of Oakville (5-1).
With Small joining the left side and Curtis Dickson subtracted from the right, the Lakers offence has a new look.
“It’s good to have a little bit of balance,” said Cattoni. “(Shawn Evans) is such a good set-up guy it’s going to be hard for the lefties to not score a ton of goals this year.”
The Lakers defence was their strong suit in earlier wins but this one was about offence.
“It’s all about being a team,” said Cattoni. “You find different ways to win whether it’s 6-5 or 14-12.”
“We were very fortunate our offence came to play because the defence had a tough one,” said defensive coach Bobby Keast. “It was our worst game so far this season.”
Small scored two goals in the first period in staking Peterborough to a 4-1 lead.
The Excelsiors clawed within 5-4 with goals 23 seconds apart by Mike Burke and Brandon Benn. The Lakers scored 1:18 later in exploding for five goals 2:06 apart. It included a nifty goal by Turner Evans set up by Josh Currier. Cutting to the net Curri- er threw up a ball Evans ran onto and in one motion pushed past goalie Nolan Clayton.
Just when it looked like the game was over Brampton reeled off three goals in the final 93 seconds of the second to get to 10-7.
Turner Evans quick-sticked Kyle Buchanan’s pass 21 seconds into the third and Cattoni’s sidearm power play shot at 3:07 started a four-goal run. Just when it seemed out of reach Brampton scored four straight to close within two in the dying minutes.
NOTES: Peterborough’s Jamie Batley is no longer coach of the NLL’s Vancouver Stealth. After going 2-16, Vancouver named Chris Gill head coach Thursday and Dan Richardson as GM .... Responding to input from a fan survey the Lakers made changes to their new jerseys to make names and numbers easier to read. They received 700 responses to the survey and have now made it available online for input at www.surveymonkey.com/r/BDYHDQ2 .... Matt Vinc made his first start of the season with Evan Kirk as backup. Cory Vitarelli and Matt Gilray returned from injury and Cam Milligan was back.
Lakers 14 Excelsiors 12
Lakers (6-1-0) scorers: Holden Cattoni (5-1), Corey Small (4-2), Turner Evans (2-3), Josh Currier (1-4), Kyle Buchanan (1-3), Chad Tutton (1-0), Shawn Evans (0-5), Cam Milligan (0-2), Mark Steenhuis (0-1), Andrew Suitor (0-1), Cory Vitarelli (0-1).
Excelsiors (1-6-1) scorers:
Phil Caputo (3-3), Mike Burke (2-)4, Dereck Downs (2-0), Luke VanSchepen (2-0), Brooker Muir (1-2), Brandon Benn (1-0), Adam Wiedemann (1-0), Tyler Ferieira (0-3), Anthony Joaquim (0-2), Nolan Clayton (0-1), Patrick Miles (0-1).
Next Action: The Lakers visit the Brooklin Redmen at 8 p.m. Wednesday.