The Major Atoms played some of their best hockey as a team in the Burlington Golden Horseshoe Tournament between Christmas and New Year finishing the round robin with a 2 – 2 – 1 record. The Lakers were counting on a berth in the semi-final, but when the final results came in the Toronto Nationals edged out the Lakers with a 3 – 2 record. If the two teams would have been tied the Lakers would have advanced as they had the best plus minus in their group.
In game 1, the Lakers skated to a 3 – 3 tie with the Welland Tigers, a game that the Lakers should have won, but had a slow start as they had to adjust to the NO BODY CONTACT rule for Atom tournaments.
In game 2, the Lakers played a very strong Halton Hurricans team. Behind 4 – 1 at one point, the Lakers battled back to tie the game in the third, only to give up 2 late goals and lose 6 – 4.
In game 3 (day two of the tournament), the Lakers played one of the top rated teams in Ontario, the Oakville Rangers, and played a great game and although losing 2 – 1 they played good enough to win.
In game 4, the Lakers came out flying and never looked back defeating Niagara Falls Thunder 6 – 3, with some excellent passing plays and team work.
In game 5 (day three of the tournament), the Lakers played with a very short bench (7 forwards and 4 defence) due to injuries and the flu. The Lakers controlled most of the game as they defeated the host team Burlington Eagles 4 – 2.
The tournament was a great success in the eyes of the coaching staff as they work towards their team goal for the year in developing into a team with better team play, which will only work in their favour for years to come as the players move through the Lakers system. The goals were scored by 9 different players with all 13 players on the team drawing assists, and the goalies lowering their goals against averages. Best of all was the comments we received about the Major Atom Lakers team on how well the behaviour was at the restaurants we went to in Burlington to eat.
The tournament was made up of 22 teams in the Major Atom AAA division with York Simcoe winning the Championship over the Toronto Titans.