Power play comes up empty for Goliaths

[attach]3388[/attach]There was limited power in the one-man advantage for East York Goliaths.

Facing North Toronto Jan. 6, East York lost 4-1 in a game that saw plenty of power-play opportunities but zero execution.

Goliaths coach Guy Lane chalked it up to a lack of setting up deep in North Toronto’s zone.

“We have some guys on the point that can really shoot and we haven’t really been able to get them shooting the way we’d like to, especially on the power play,” he said.

Still, the zest for producing goals was sapped by two quick Norsemen markers within the first four minutes of the contest.

“We were not prepared at the beginning of the game,” Lane said. “They scored the two quick ones and we couldn’t really recover.”

Netting the first for North Toronto was Nick Giancola via Michael Kim on the power play. That was followed quickly by Mark McGregor’s even strength mark from Max Zworth and Sean Larson.

When it came to either the power play or penalty kill, the Norsemen were flawless. Coach John Taylor said their last practice had been focused on man-down, man-up plays.

“We’ve been working on our power play and penalty kill at a lot of practices,” he said. “Maybe it’s paying off.”

After the Norsemen’s third breach of netminder Chris Terzis’s armor by Chris Toufexis — off a defenders’ stick — the Goliaths finally broke the goose egg with Kyle Emerson’s notch in the second. Matt Cesta and Calvin McAnsh assisted.

During the second intermission, Lane did not relent on his pep talk to his charges, reminding them that beating the two-goal deficit was still within reach.

“We just made sure they were aware they were still in the game,” he said. “We’re confident our team can play with (North Toronto) and beat them.”

A final marker by Larson via Kim and Keenan Crawford put the game out of reach.

Although Terzis allowed four goals, he was under fire the entire game. Lane lauded his stalwart blockade.

“It could have been 5-0 after the first with the chances they had,” he said. “(Terzis) kept us in a lot of games this year.”

After giving up a quick lead in their most recent spar, there’s a lesson to be learned.

“I think you have to play hard right from the very beginning through three periods,” Lane said.