A pre-game decision to break up the team’s top offensive line resulted in a more balanced attack that led to a 9-4 win for the Chargers over the Streetsville Derbys last night at Port Credit Arena, halting Mississauga’s four-game losing streak in the Ontario Junior Hockey League.
“We talked about it (the shuffle) before the game,” said Chargers coach Jay Anderson. “Some of the guys were beating themselves up, so we made the change and went out and had some fun.”
What the Chargers did was move high-scoring winger Bruce Crawford onto a line with Mike Moher and Adam Ancona. Erman Ali was inserted into Crawford’s spot alongside Brent McGrail and Adam Bevilacqua.
The result was the McGrail-Bevilacqua-Ali trio combined for four goals and 10 points. The Crawford-Moher-Ancona combination had three goals and a total of five points as the Chargers won for the second time in eight starts this season.
“We just had to get some people away from some other people to see if it would work, see if we could generate some excitement,” said Anderson.
The Chargers overcame a 3-1 deficit when they reeled off three goals in a five-minute span in the second period and then scored three goals in the opening nine minutes of the third frame to jump out to 7-3 advantage, handing the Derbys their second loss in five games this season.
Bevilacqua scored twice and added a pair of assists. McGrail and Ali each had one goal and two assists. Crawford and Moher ended the night with one goal and one assist each and Ancona had one goal.
Jeff Standon and Matt Prapavessis had the other markers for Mississauga.
Goaltender Marco Tomei, who practiced for two hours earlier in the day with the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors of the Ontario Hockey League, turned back 24 of 28 shots.
The Chargers head to Buffalo Wednesday night to take on the Junior Sabres. They’re back at Port Credit Arena next Saturday night to face the Oakville Blades.
