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Don’t look now, but here come the Brooklin Redmen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Their 5-8 record for 10 points doesn’t exactly illuminate the standings, but if last weekend were any indication of what’s coming outta Brooklin, you gotta believe there’s some solid ball being played there.

Victories over St. Regis on Saturday and a strong Peterborough squad on Thursday helped push Brooklin to fifth place in the standings. That’s not only two wins, it’s two quality wins that shake off the misery of a five-game losing skid. ” … Our guys continue to get better and gain the confidence to know they can play with anybody now,” Brooklin coach Peter Vipond told NewsDurhamRegion.com. And with two games this weekend against Barrie and another against Kitchener-Waterloo, the Redmen know they’ve gotta make their move in the standings while they can.

Sure, there’s the old maxim that lets any team win on any given night. But with a pair of tilts against bottom-feeder Barrie this weekend, the Redmen know this is their chance. Especially with just five games left in the regular season. So if the defense continues to do what it did in holding the Lakers to 7 goals and the Indians to 10, this just might be the start of something special.

And before you ask, yes. Both Peterborough and St. Regis had their stud lineups on the floor.  But when keeper Kurtis Wagar leads a defense that holds John Tavares to 2 goals and John Grant Jr. to 2 goals, good things are gonna happen. And believe it when the Redmen tell you they need good things to happen on defense, especially with such a young lineup. The eight rookies on the roster are not only learning a lot from veterans like Shawn Williams and Stephen Hoar, they’re contributing, too.

That’s gonna have to continue, obviously, because after this weekend’s finished, Brooklin’s got two tough squads to dea with in the final week of the season: Brampton AND Peterborough. But, first things first, and that means the upcoming week.

So you’ll excuse the early-season inconsistencies from the Redmen because last weekend’s sweep just might be the push they’ve been looking for as they work their way onward and upward.

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