Major PeeWees Reach “A” Final in Peterborough Tournament
Acting as a fill-in team the HPL Major PeeWee team were quite excited to attend the Wally Beavis Memorial Tournament in Peterborough.
In the 1st round robin game for the Lakers they were matched up against the Newmarket Redmen an AA team which has been playing in AAA tournaments all year and have had good success. The Lakers came out flying and never looked back. Jamie Huber put the Lakers ahead early in the game with assists going to Carson Brookshaw and Eric MacPhee. Sixteen seconds later, Nathan Smith scored unassisted. Things cool down until midway through the 2nd period when Cullen Mercer scored with Ted Nichol and Blake Nichol collecting assists. Nathan Smith scored his 2nd of the game when Carson Brookshaw set-up Josh Higgins with a quick bank pass off the boards in the neutral zone and Higgins fed Smith wide open in front of the Newmarket net. Ted Nichol rounded out the scoring late in the 3rd period when Zach Jacobs made a great pass up the mid to Nichol. Final score Lakers 5, Redmen 0 with Ben Larder picking up the shutout for the Lakers.
In the 2nd round robin game, one of the most exciting games of the tournament the Lakers faced off against the home town Peterborough Petes. The game didn’t start out the way the HPL Major PeeWees had hoped as they found themselves down 4 – 0 midway through the 2nd period. The Lakers were able to regroup and started showing some offensive late in the 2nd period. Going into the 3rd the Lakers wanted to put some pucks in the Petes' net to improve their plus minus for the final tournament standings. When the Lakers started scoring they were on fire, Ted Nichol scored 1st for the Lakers as Kenny Huether and Evan Chaffe did a great job of cycling the puck down low. Kenny Huether closed the gap on the scoreboard when Haydn Favacho pinched in from the blueline keeping the puck in so that Evan Chaffe could get it to Huether for the goal. Twenty seconds later, Cullen Mercer took a great pass from Jamie Huber and made no mistake, cutting the Petes' lead to one. Unfortunately the Petes were able to get the next goal, but the Lakers didn’t quit as Ted Nichol controlled the play deep in the Petes' end and cycled the puck to Evan Chaffe who found Carson Brookshaw entering the play on a line change, and Carson beat the Petes' goalie clean. Unfortunately the Lakers ran out of time on their come back, final score Peterborough 5, Huron-Perth 4.
In the 3rd round robin game against Upper Ottawa Valley Aces the Lakers needed a win to advance to the A Championship and a loss could put them out of the tournament with no chance to play for the B Championship. The game started out very slow and not in the Lakers' favour. When the HPL Major PeeWees are skating they play very good hockey. Midway through the 2nd period Ottawa scored which threw the Lakers into a defensive style of game. Midway through the 3rd period the Lakers had just killed off a penalty when Ottawa scored to go up 2 – 0. Twelve seconds later, Cullen Mercer fed Jamie Huber a tape to tape pass in front of the Ottawa net that Huber tipped in to put the Lakers on the scoreboard, from that point on the Lakers controlled the play. One minute later, Zach Jacobs scored his 1st goal of the year from Kenny Huether to tie the score 2 – 2. With forwards Blake Nichol and Carson Brookshaw both out of the game due to injuries, Mykal Hodges moved from defence to forward to add some forchecking strength. It didn’t take Hodges long to create a turnover in the Ottawa end where he stripped the puck from the Ottawa defenceman and made a perfect pass to Evan Chaffe all alone in front of the Ottawa net to put in the game winner. Cullen Mercer capped of the scoring with an empty net goal to give the Lakers the 4 – 2 win and put them in the “A” Finals against the home town Peterborough Petes.
The stage was set for the “A” Final with the Lakers being the underdog and with some unfinished business with the Peterborough team. After one period of play 0 – 0. Midway through the 2nd period the Lakers were controlling the game in the Petes' end and were in the middle of making a very good line change as, while Jamie Huber and Blake Nichol went for a change and Evan Chaffe and Kenny Huether entered the play, Cullen Mercer was able to keep control of the puck and make a great pass to Huether who beat the Petes' goalie to the top corner giving the Lakers a 1 – 0 lead going into the 3rd period. As the Lakers were given an interference penalty in the 1st minute of the 3rd period this allowed the Petes to get back into the game with a powerplay goal. The game stay 1 – 1 until the last minute of the 3rd period when a Petes' defenceman flipped a shot on the Lakers net from the blueline going off the post and into the net behind Lakers goalie Owen Chapman. With only 36 seconds left on the clock it didn't give the Lakers enough time to put together a come back. Final score: Peterborough Petes 2, Huron-Perth Lakers 1. Defenceman Tristan Connolly didn’t make the score sheet but had a strong tournament for the Lakers after being out for 10 days with the flu.
Next tournament for the HPL Major PeeWee team is the Kitchener Blueline Tournamnet on Nov. 27th - 29th.
