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At this point in the season it’s starting to become evident who the stronger teams in the division are and the West Mall Lightning are no exception. They were coming off a hard fought 1-0 loss to the league leading Mississauga Jets on Tuesday so the Tigers knew they had to be ready to “Battle, Battle, Battle” at the Centennial Arena in Etobicoke Friday night. With only 4 points separating the 2 teams in the standings this was an important “4-point” game. Unfortunately for the Tigers the West Mall team took an early 2-0 lead after only 2 minutes had ticked off the game clock. My Blackberry was still just warming, the caffeine hadn’t quite kicked in from my “Timmies” and I still felt warm…Waz up wit dat????!!!! Okay enough of my own selfish thoughts, lets get back to the game. Well actually the Tigers did as well. With the likes of Dustin Hayward and Raymond Cadeau buzzing around the Lightning zone the Tigers started to create some of their own opportunities, although unable to put one past the large Lightnings goaltender, who it seemed like had a couple of Frigidaires strapped to his legs. “GO HIGH!!! GO HIGH!!!” was the cry from Tigers supporter John McGrath, but alas the 1st period ended with the Tigers still behind by 2 goals. At the start of the 2nd period coach Canavan gathered the team and delivered an inspiring pep-talk that boiled their blood and with eyes the size of saucers the Tigers prepared to mount a comeback. With just over a minute gone in the 2nd period it was evident that the words of the coach were still ringing in Ryan Johnston’s ears as he blew by the Lightning defenders, deked the goalie and buried the puck into the open net. With that goal the momentum swung slightly in favour of the Tigers. Despite this however the Lightning showed why they are one of the top teams as they continued their disciplined play. Just 3 minutes later the Lightning picked up a slashing penalty giving the Tigers a power play opportunity. On the ensuing face-off in the Lightning zone the puck went back to Mark Shiozaki who snapped a high hard shot on the Lightning goaltender who was unable to control the rebound. Ryan Johnston was wreaking havoc in front of the net and pounced on the rebound scoring his 2nd of the night lifting the Tigers into a tie. That ended the scoring for both teams for the rest of the evening making the final 2-2. Kudos go out to both teams for a hard fought and entertaining game. With the tie the Tigers move a full 2 points ahead of the 9th place York Toros and are within 3 points of the 7th place Etobicoke Canucks with a game in hand. The Tigers now prepare for their next game on Friday against the Vaughan Panthers.
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