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Its only game three and the 2009 Mann Cup is defiantly making a run for one of the greatest of all time! After the rest day Sunday both teams came out and put on a defensive clinic in a back and forth game that lasted over three hours and ended on a double overtime goal by Brampton’s Colin Doyle. The series continues to provide fans with great memories and pulse raising action.

The story to start the game was the absence of three players off the Excelsiors’ roster, Mike Hominuk, Sandy Chapman and most notably, game two MVP Dan Dawson. All three had returned home for work commitments and gave the 3000 plus fans in attendance hope for a New Westminster victory. The game started off very tight and saw both teams very tentative to expose themselves. Some sloppy offensive play was met with some very stingy defense and fantastic goaltending. Anthony Cosmo took his usual spot in the pipes for Brampton while the Bellies continued platooning their tenders and sent Tyler Richards out.  Both played great games and went save for save all night long. Dan Teat opened the scoring for the visitors nearly halfway through the first period with a fortuitous bounce of the back boards and was left all alone in front of the net. Sparkplug Tyler Crompton tied the game six minutes later with a great pick and roll play, getting a slick feed from Jordan McBride and beat Cosmo short side.  1-1 after twenty and the tone was set for a very clean hard fought match up.

As the case was in game two, New West came out firing in the second  beginning with a transition goal from game MVP Kyle Ross. Ross has seen a lot of O this series and has been a real beauty so far scoring big goals all the while being a huge thorn in the side of the Brampton attack.  Up two goals the Bellies found themselves down two men and the Eastern champs used this opportunity to score goals fifteen seconds apart on the power play to tie the game up.  A late goal from Cliff Smith gave the bellies a slim 4-3 lead after forty minutes. The period was fast, intense and fairly clean. The third period was sure to not disappoint and it didn’t.

Brampton still had much of the momentum in the third, although down a goal. They started to press the Bellies offense keeping them to the outside and when they got the ball into the other end they were getting reset after reset breaking the New West defense down. Seeing his first action of the finals, Kevin Ross, used the third period to make his mark scoring goals two minutes apart to give the Excels their first lead since Teat’s opener. That’s when the action picked up.  To say Tyler Richards was on fire wouldn’t do him any justice.  The kid was unconscious and made a few huge saves down the stretch to help keep his team in the game. Rory Smith was handed a very untimely four minute penalty for checking from behind on a hit to Doyle near the end of the thirty. Was it a penalty? Yes. Did it deserve a double minor? Not in my mind. It could have been a very sour point for Smith, but his boys were able to kill off the penalties. More importantly, with the goalie pulled and shorthanded, Cliff Smith was able to tie the game with 1:16 left to blow the roof off of Queens Park. 5-5 after regulation and for the second consecutive game, Overtime.

Ten minutes, non-sudden death wasn’t enough for these two very tired teams. Drew Petkoff put the Excelsiors ahead just thirty-one seconds in the extra frame but goals from defensive monster, Dave Morgan and speedster Jordan Hall put the home side ahead. With a minute left and the teams playing four on four, Brampton pulled their goalie and sent out the extra man unit. With fifty seconds left, Blaine Manning fired an outside shot that beat Richards and set us up for double overtime. This time it would be sudden death.

We started the fifth period with each team down a man but once the penalties expired the drama unfolded. Both teams traded possessions then Doyle got the ball and was able to get around his man for a diving far side game winner. Referee Mark Gardonio, was the closest to the play and he blew his whistle and immediately point to the ground and all thought he was ruling Doyle in the crease but then signaled a good goal. It appears that he was signaling that Doyle’s feet were outside the line before raising his arms. Everyone in Red and White was outraged and all their supporters were livid.  I was able to watch the goal after the game and from the angle of the camera, it looked to that Doyle was indeed air-born before crossing the line and had scored the game winner legally.

It’s not the way the Bellies faithful had hoped the night would end but anytime you have sudden death overtime and if the goal is remotely close; the team on the wrong side of the score is going to have something to say about it.

 The good thing for New West; they get to come back tomorrow night and get back at it. They can’t hang their heads.  They’ve been in every game. They have to be able to forget about tonight and focus on what is ahead of them. It’s obvious to me that they can compete with the defending champs and if not for a post here or there, they could be up 3-0!

The loss of bodies won’t get any easier for Troy Cordingly’s troops, as there are more reports of players having to head back east for work obligations but at the same time, they do hope to get some of the missing bodies back for the remaining games. We won’t know those answers till they announce the line-ups tomorrow night. Until then, all we can do is rest up, hydrate and get a good meal in us as we will all need our energy for game four!

Game MVP’s were Kyle Ross (1-1) for New West and Brodie Merrill (0-0) for Brampton. My MVP’s were Cliff Smith (2-2) and Kevin Ross (2-0).

It was the biggest crowd so far the 50/50 was $2150… I’m going to have to start tickets.

Again, if you are unable to make it to the games, tune in live at www.theboxrocks.com and enjoy the games. Feel free to email me your comments and thoughts on the games and let me know if you think the goal was good or not, and if the Bellies will take a very important game four Tuesday.

Jenner is a two-time Mann Cup champion with six years of NLL experience. Email him at ted.jenner@nllinsider.com also follow the Coquitlam Jr. A Adanacs and the Intermediate A Adanacs live, as Teddy brings you color commentary with Brad Challoner for the Jr's and play by play with Brody Allen for the Intermediates -- http://www.junioradanacs.com/multimedia.php

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