On Tuesday night the Whitby Warriors will be back in action as they take on the Brampton Excelsiors. Whitby has 12-2 record on the season so far and sits in second place in the league. Brampton has a record of 8-5-1 and currently sits in fifth place in the league. This will be an intriguing matchup as this is the first meeting between these two teams this season.
Brampton will be looking for a big win as they hope to knock the Warriors down a peg. Brampton will rely on Shane MacDonald, Dylan Webster and Dan Keane to carry the offense. MacDonald has been excellent this year and has racked up 29 goals and 43 assists and sits third in league scoring. Webster has scored 16 goals and 33 assists for Brampton while Keane had 18 goals and 30 assists. Brampton will rely heavily on these three to carry the offense if they are shutdown by Whitby’s defense Brampton will be in for a long night. Brampton will need goalie Ryan Kelly to be at his best against Whitby as he will be tested frequently by Whitby’s stellar offense.
If Brampton hopes to win they must avoid a fast paced high scoring game at all costs. Whitby currently has 4 of the top ten scorers in the league on their team so if Brampton tries to match Whitby goal for goal they will lose. Brampton will need to slow down the pace of the game and be physical on defense in order to stop Whitby’s offense. Brampton will need to be diligent on loose balls as the more time they can keep Whitby on defense the more likely they are to win. Brampton will also need to find a way to break Whitby goalie Alexis Buque who has been stellar this year and has a goals against average of 5.24. Brampton will need to play their best in order to beat Whitby.
Whitby has shown so far that their Minto cup win last year was no fluke as they have been solid on both offense and defense. Whitby is lead on defense by goalie Alexis Buque who has a 5-1 record and has only allowed 29 goals this season. On offense Whitby is lead by Curtis Knight, Dan Litner. Whitby’s offensive depth has been the key to their success so far this season.
In order to win this game Whitby will want to play a fast paced game which will allow them to spread Brampton’s defense and open up room for their offense. Whitby will need to move the ball around and take advantage of their offensive depth in order to frustrate the Brampton defense. If Whitby can constantly generate shots on Brampton goalie Ryan Kelly they should be able to break him. Whitby will need to avoid being dragged into a slow and physical game by Brampton as well as be vigilant on loose balls and control possession.
This should be another exciting Jr A game between two great teams and will help to shape the Ojall playoff picture. The game begins at 8:00pm and will be played at Iroqouis 1 in Whitby
