The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers staged a small but mighty comeback on Thursday night, beating the Brampton Excelsiors 10-9 at Memorial Arena.
The teams were tied at five after the first, and seven after the second. Brampton surged ahead 9-7 with seven minutes to play in the third, but the Lakers dug deep to pull off the comeback. Rob Hellyer scored his third and fourth goals of the game, kicking off the run with a power play goal with 3:01 to play. He tied the game with an outside rip 38 seconds later.
Sr. B callup Nick DiLauro scored the game winner with 37 seconds left.
DiLauro also scored in the second period, his first MSL goal, and the team made sure to save the ball for him. He had played one game last season as a Jr. A callup but did not score.
It was a special moment for a local player who has spent his career being coached by current Lakers players and coaches.
“First game so a little bit of nervousness,” he said. “I was tossed in there, thought I’d just play my game, do what I’m good at and find my way in the lineup and make things happen.”
The Lakers record improves to 4-3 but Hellyer admitted that they didn’t play their best against the now 1-6 Excelsiors.
“We were maybe looking at the standings when we shouldn’t,” he said. “We took them a little lighter than we should have. Energy was real low tonight I thought, and just sloppy… We found a way to win, wasn’t pretty, but we have to beat the teams we’re supposed to beat.”
DiLauro said the team found themselves in a slump at first, but “we just tried to stick to the plan and get the juice going.”
Hellyer added two assists to his four-goal output, while DiLauro and Braedon Saris each scored two goals and one assist. Taite Cattoni, who returned to the lineup after missing one game due to injury, contributed four assists. Nick Rose picked up the win in goal.
Connor O’Toole suffered the loss for Brampton. The Excelsiors were led by Coltrane Tyson’s three goals and five assists, and Mike Triolo’s two goals and three assists. Jr. A Laker graduates Michael Blaymires (1G/1A) and Curtis Ward (1G/2A) also helped out offensively.
(Article submitted by: Anna Taylor, Social Media Coordinator with the Century 21 Lakers)
