Hellyer Fuels Furious Finish As Lakers Down Excelsiors

By Gary Groob 

The Peterborough Lakers (4-3) traveled west to face the Brampton Excelsiors (1-6) in Major Series Lacrosse action Thursday night at the Memorial Arena in Brampton, Ontario. 

The goaltending match-up had Nick Rose in net for the Lakers facing Connor O'Toole in net for the Excelsiors. 

The Peterborough Lakers erased multiple deficits and leaned on their veteran leadership to grind out a hard-fought 10-9 victory over the Brampton Excelsiors on Thursday night at Memorial Arena. Brampton came out flying, building early momentum behind a hat-trick performance from Coltrane Tyson and strong offensive contributions from Seth Van Schepen and Mike Triolo. Despite trailing on several occasions, the Lakers answered every challenge, using transition goals from Frank Coyle and Liam Patten along with a balanced offensive attack to keep pace in a thrilling first forty minutes that ended deadlocked 7-7.

With the game hanging in the balance in the third period, Brampton once again grabbed control as Triolo and Curtis Ward gave the Excelsiors a two-goal advantage. However, Rob Hellyer delivered when it mattered most, scoring twice in under a minute to pull Peterborough even before setting up Nick DiLauro for the game-winning goal with just 35 seconds remaining. Hellyer finished with a dominant six-point night, while DiLauro and Braedon Saris each scored twice as the Lakers completed the comeback and escaped Brampton with a crucial one-goal road victory.

To The Game:

The Excelsiors got off to a strong start with Michael Blaymires converting a Seth Van Schepen pass at 54 seconds, followed by Van Schepen himself in transition off a long lead pass from Connor O'Toole at 4:04.

Braedon Saris got Peterborough on the board with a blast off a Dylan Hutchison pass at 5:50, followed by Rob Hellyer in transition off a Robert Hope feed at 6:10.

Coltrane Tyson gave Brampton the lead once again with a sidearm snipe off an Ashton Lankowski pass at 6:52, but Rob Hellyer's second of the game off a Jordan Stouros pass tied the game again at 7:47.

The Lakers took their first lead of the game when Frank Coyle went coast to coast unassisted at 11:21, followed by Liam Patten also scoring in transition on a breakaway unassisted at 12:25.

Coltrane Tyson brought the Excelsiors within one with a high to low blast from the outside off a Titus Chapman pass at 14:16, then completed his first period hat-trick from in close at 19:59 to tie the game.

After one period, Peterborough 5 Brampton 5.

Second Period: 

Seth Van Schepen opened the second period scoring with a sidearm snipe from the outside on the power-play off a Mike Triolo pass at 3:22, followed by Triolo himself with a low to low laser off a Curtis Ward pass at 14:50.

Braedon Saris replied for Peterborough converting a Taite Cattoni feed from the inside at 15:10, followed by Nick DiLauro converting another Cattoni pass at 18:13.

After two periods, Peterborough 7 Brampton 7.

Third Period:

Mike Triolo gave Brampton the lead with an outside blast that caught the shortside off a Coltrane Tyson pass at 1:54, followed by Curtis Ward with a screen shot off a Coltrane Tyson pass at 12 :27.

Rob Hellyer put the Lakers on his back with a pair of goals to tie the game.  The first was on the power-play with a laser off an Adam Thistlewaite pass at 16:59, followed by a bounced shot from the outside at 17:38.  Nick DiLauro then blasted a Taite Cattoni feed from the outside at 19:25 for the game winner.

Final score, Peterborough 10 Brampton 9.

The Three Stars:

1. Rob Hellyer 
2. Coltrane Tyson 
3. Taite Cattoni 

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