[Dec 31] A game that looked like it was going to be an old-fashioned shootout got away from the Majors very quickly this evening. They were outscored 5-0 by the Battalion during the 2nd period and ended up falling 9-4. With the loss, the Majors record moves to 17-14-3-3 and they drop 1 point behind Brampton in the standings.

It was a back-and-forth affair in the 1st period. The Battalion jumped ahead 2-0 on goals by J.F. Houle and Luch Aquino at 5:49 (power-play) and 8:22, respectively. The assists were credited to Kyle Sonnenburg, Aaron Snow and Wojtek Wolski. The Majors stormed back with goals of their own at 10:06, 10:13 and 11:59 (power-play) from Matt Caria, Cory Vitarelli and Scott Lehman, respectively. The helpers went to Tyler Donati (2), Justin DiBenedetto (2), Justin Donati and Tyler Haskins. However, Brampton replied with goals at 15:38 (power-play) and 18:19 to skate out of the period with a 4-3 lead. The tallies went to Luke Lynes and Wolski while Aquino (2), Wolski and Michael Vernace registered the assists.

Then, the Battalion put the Majors on their heels with 2nd period goals at 3:22, 13:19, 15:57 (power-play), 16:57 and 19:01 (power-play). The goalscorers were Taylor Raszka, Howie Martin, Lynes, Tomas Stryncl and Snow, respectively. The helpers were given to Vernace (2), Lynes, Aquino, Raszka, Stryncl, Wolski and Brock McPherson.

Tyler Donati provided the Majors 4th goal, on the man-advantage, off of Justin Donati and Haskins feeds with 34 seconds remaining, but it was far too late. Wayne Savage made 21 saves before being replaced by Mark Kubicz late in the 2nd period. Kubicz went on to stop 12 shots. Daren Machesney had 21 saves for Brampton. The Majors were 2 for 6 on the power-play while the Battalion were 4 for 9. The game’s three stars were Aquino (1st), Wolski (2nd) and Lynes (3rd).

The Majors are in the midst of a stretch of road games that finds them in Belleville on Sunday afternoon (January 1st) at 2:00 pm, Owen Sound next Wednesday (January 4th) at 7:00 pm and Oshawa next Sunday (January 8th) at 6:05 pm. They will return home to host the Ottawa 67’s on Thursday, January 12th at 7:30 pm. The latter three contests will be broadcast on Rogers television in the Toronto region, channel 10 or 63, while all four will be webcast at www.stmichaelsmajors.com.

Majors tickets can be purchased in a number of ways: through the Majors office at (416) 651-8228, by calling Ticketmaster at (416) 872-5000, online at www.ticketmaster.ca or by stopping by the St. Michael’s College School Arena box office within two hours of the puck drop. Majors group tickets can be purchased for as low as $7, if the party consists of 20 or more individuals.