With the Clax Season beginning next weekend the Brampton Inferno took on the Toronto Shooting Stars in pre-season action at the Stephen Leacock Arena in Scarborough. Brampton’s current line-up showed early jitters in this game as they had only practiced together twice and got into some early penalty trouble. The Inferno were already down 1 0 but were able to kill off the penalties.
The Inferno then swung this momentum in their favor as they scored two quick goals to take a 2-1 lead after the end of the first period. The Inferno would continue to roll in the second period as the Inferno struck first to increase their lead to 3-1. At the midway mark of the second period the Inferno offense ignited as they struck for 3 goals in 45 seconds and would add two more before halftime to take a commanding 7-2 lead at the intermission.
In the third period the Inferno continued to dominate as they increased their lead to 8-4. Frustration started to mount on the side of the Shooting Stars as Toronto’s Tory Gardner fought Brampton’s Mike McNamara. The physical play continued as the two teams exchanged hits before Josh Ruys of Toronto challenged Dave Cutten. Ruys had to be restrained and received an addition two minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct the Stars though were able to hold off the Inferno power play. When the third ended Toronto had made a comeback and trailed by just three as the score was now 10-7.
In the fourth period the heated play continued as both teams took multiple penalties. The fourth period was full of them as the Inferno and Stars both lost their cool and took slashing, roughing and unsportsmanlike penalties. When the dust settled the Inferno walked away with an 11-9 victory.
For the Inferno they were led by Mark Tinning who had a hat trick and two assists to lead the Brampton offense. Ryan Campbell would add two goals and two assists while Ben McCullough had two assists and imposed his physical play on the Stars. For Toronto Aiden Genik led the way with two goals while Toronto’s first overall pick in this year draft
Geoff Griffiths had three assists. This was a good taste for fans as to what they can expect from this rivalry this year and it will be interesting to see what happens when these two teams meet in the regular season. The Inferno open there season on January 19th against
the Oshweken Demons while the Stars open their season on January 12th against the Durham Turf Dogs.
