With 5 games remaining in the regular season, the Lakers have managed to lock down first place with 43 points (20 wins, 2 losses, 3 ties). On Saturday, the Lakers managed to come from behind to defeat the Kitchener Jr. Rangers by a score of 5-2.
After taking a quick lead on a power play goal by
Chayse Herrfort from
Jon Baker and
Jared Nash, the Lakers seemed to sit back and let the Rangers take it to them. The Rangers scored the next 2 goals, 1 in the 2nd period and another early in the 3rd.
It was a 5 minute major penalty coupled with a bench minor by Kitchener that seemed to get the Lakers back on track as they would score the next 4 goals on the power play.
MacKinnon Hawkins would take a pass from Herrfort at the point and ring a nice slapper off the bottom of the crossbar. Then call-up, Shaun Pickering, would get the puck back to defenseman
Ian Vanden Heuvel who would slide a nice pass over to his partner,
Keenan Conlon who would score with a timely wrist shot. Then call-up, Jarrett Bogdon, would bang home a rebound after
Brent West and Pickering orchestrated a nice give’n go scoring opportunity. Herrfort and Nash would team up for the Laker’s final tally with Nash finding the back of the net.
Tristan Lewis got the win in goal for the Lakers.
On Sunday the Lakers played their best game of the last 2 weeks defeating Cambridge Hawks by a score of 4-1. It was a great combination of defensive puck movement and a fast paced offensive fore check that contributed to the all around great team effort.
Tanner Hertel, a call-up from the Lakers Major Atom team would find himself all alone in front of the net after getting the puck from Nick Jung and slide it under the Hawk goalie to give the Lakers the lead. With 1 second remaining in the 1st period the Hawks would draw even with goal of their own. In the 2nd, Chayse Herrfort would deposit his own rebound on the third try during a scramble in front of the Hawks’ goaltender with assists going to Jon Baker and Brent West for a 2-1 lead. Two shifts later, Justin McCarter would fire home a loose puck after Jacob Hrudka and Jared Nash worked hard to get the puck to the Hawks’ net.
Then in the 3rd period, the Lakers would score on the power play when Hrudka would initiate a nice break out distributing the puck to West who would start a nice give ’n go with Herrfort who would eventually beat the Hawks’ goalie five hole. Wyatt Nicholson would get the win in goal for the Lakers. Call-up, Jake Finlayson played a strong game for the Lakers as Luka Marinic nurses an injury. Playing very physically along the boards and winning one on one battle was also a big reason that the Lakers were able to control a large part of the game.
Next up, the Lakers travel to Waterloo next Saturday and then host London Gold on Sunday.