Game 4 of the PeeWee Alliance League Championship Series goes Saturday, March 29th in Listowel at 3:00 p.m. After dropping game 1 of the Series 4-1 in Windsor, the next 2 games in this close, exciting Series have both gone to overtime. With 42 minutes in penalties in Game 3, the Listowel game is shaping up to be a barn-burner!!
Game 2 of the Series was played in Goderich on March 16th with the Lakers dropping a tough one, 2-1 in overtime. Playing a much tighter game defensively, the Lakers greatly limited the fast skating Spitfire scoring chances throughout the game. After a scoreless 1st period that saw few good scoring chances at either end, the PeeWees took the lead off some hard work by Matt McCracken and Connor Johnson. McCracken powered down the left side and, despite strong Spitfire checking, got a nice shot off. Johnson (McCracken), crashing the net, picked up a nice rebound sitting in the crease and slammed it home.
The game remained tight after Johnson’s goal with the Lakers holding on to the lead until late in the game. The team was called for only its 2nd penalty of the game with just under 7 minutes remaining. While they managed to kill off the penalty, Windsor knotted the game at 1 with the player out of the box, however not yet back in the play. Heading into overtime, the Lakers were clearly down after losing the lead late in the game and it showed. Strong pressure by Windsor early in the extra frame resulted in a hard, point-shot that found the back of the net.
Facing a “no loss” situation in Game 3 of the Series, the team arrived in Windsor refreshed and raring to go after a great, sunny bus trip to the arena. Parents who had made the trip 2 weeks prior in, arguably, the worst snowstorm of the year, saw scenery they had never witnessed before! The team added to their refreshing ride by pulling their ace out of the hole and placing Laurie Errington behind the bench as Trainer.
By game’s end, the Lakers had played to a tough, 1-1 overtime tie. Affiliate Nick Castell, making his 2nd final series appearance, put the Lakers up 1-0 in the 2nd period off a strong individual effort. Castell (Carter Strachan; Travis Bender) came off the face-off circle and placed a nice backhand behind the Windsor goalie. The Lakers lead was short-lived, with Windsor tying the game at 1 before the end of the period off an unfortunate scramble by the Lakers net. The 3rd period and overtime remained scoreless thereby forcing Game 4 back in Listowel on March 29th.
The players should be proud of how they are finishing the season. Regular readers of this column may remember “the game that shall not be named,” a 9-0 shellacking by these same Spitfires early in the season. Since that time, and in the 4 games against Windsor since, the Lakers have never given up and have come closer and closer to knocking the Spitfires off each game. If the current trend continues, a victory in Game 4 is a very real possibility. For this to happen, however, a few things will need to occur including: the same, strong effort by every player on the team; continued team toughness between the whistles; more shots at a Windsor goalie who appears uncomfortable handling the puck; better coverage of the Windsor defence when in the Lakers zone; and, most importantly, Laurie Errington again behind the bench to extend the team’s undefeated record with her name on the game sheet!!