99 Minor PeeWee Lakers Recap
After coming off a spectacular game in London your 99 Minor PeeWee Lakers cleaned up the Brantford 99ers the following Sunday at the historic Allman Arena with a very convincing win. But unfortunately that would cap the 5 game winning streak and 8 games without a loss.
Dec. 12 - Allman Arena - Brantford 1 / Lakers 9
If there was a game where all the kids were having fun it was this game. When you’re playing in the Allman and the score is in your favour and the game is going your way you can’t help but have a good time. Brantford is no push over hockey team but on that day they should have stayed in bed because they were not willing to play their best hockey and the Lakers thought they were still playing London because once again they did not let up until the final buzzer. Scoring came from almost every player in the line up with Kuno leading the way. Kuno’s first goal late in the first period gave way to six more unanswered Lakers goals. Kuno would pot two more to make the trick by the end of the second. Singles came from all types of a shots and rebounds by Thibeault, Butchart, Hertel, Deelstra and Rooker. Crafty helpers came from Thibeault with 3 assists and Collinson with 2 and Landry, Weinheimer, Kuno and Rooker picking up singles. All this scoring was made easy by the steady and focused Laker D and Goaltending. Quick outs and neutral zone regroups kept the puck deep in Brantford territory. Denny, Derrough, Moorehead, Landry and Collinson moved the puck smartly while Brock Baier saw everything sent his way and narrowly missed the shutout. Brantford’s only goal was on a power play late in the third period.
Dec. 13 - Activa Centre – Kitchener 2 / Lakers 0
Hoping the party would never end the players headed to Kitchener on a Monday night (this was the rescheduled game from a week prior due to snow storm). By now, the hockey gods were tired of watching over the 99 Lakers and decided to stay home to rest up for the Tuesday night Leafs Game vs Edmonton Oilers (which they eventually won 4 -1). So coming off one of their best unbeaten streaks, the 99 Laker Minor PeeWees decided that they were too good to work hard every shift and every period. Players were looking to other players to skate and score and the will to compete vanished in all aspects of the game. Several shots already accumulated on the Lakers tender Baily Paquette by the start of the second period. Paquette was noted as having kept the game even close. Kitchener would eventually score early in the second period which would turn out to be the game winner. They would finish it off with a capper near the end of the third on a power play. Kitchener once again got away with a W. But this time they deserved it.
Dec. 18 - RBC Arena – Sun County 3 / Lakers 2
Playing back in Stratford the following Saturday proved to be challenging for the players and coaches. Without a practice which was cancelled due to poor weather the coaches were unable to repair game problems witnessed in Kitchener earlier in the week. Could the players regain their focus and desire to play 3 periods of hockey as they did against London and Brantford? Well it turns out they did in the second period. The first period was flat for both teams. The coaching staff wondered which way the game would go. It turned out that a tremendous effort by a few players would have the Lakers on the board first. A nice power play set up by Deelstra and Butchart gave up a low lane to the net which Stockie wasted no time in utilizing and managed to find a sliver of mesh behind the Sun County goalie glove. Later that same period while back to 5 on 5, Thibeault picked up a sharp pass by Moorehead down low in Lakers' territory and headed North with Stockie on a 2 on one. Thibeault gave up the puck to Stockie who made no mistake on the short side of the Sun County tender. At the end of the second period Lakers found their form again as they were doing all the right things. Laker goalie Brock prevented the game from getting away from them in the first and continued to deliver big save after big save in the second. Going into the 3rd period the game was in hand or at least we thought. After rewarding the players with a great second period effort during intermission the Lakers hit the ice hoping to put away Sun County for good. That did not happen. In fact, Sun County came out harder and tallied 3 unanswered goals to win 3-2. Dropping 2 straight games is not part of our philosophy or our commitment to each other and losing a game in the third has not happened to our team in a long time and proved we needed to get back to our game.
Dec. 19 - Maitland Arena – Waterloo 3 / Lakers 1
A day later in Goderich our players memories of the past two games are almost forgotten but for the staff it was beginning to create a bit of a concern. We were not accustomed to seeing our players underperform or unable to rebound from deficit scores. Although close games on paper, it was obvious that our tenacity and willingness to compete fell short with no obvious reasons. Perhaps our rival Waterloo opponents would get their competitive juices flowing again. We had not lost to Waterloo in league play yet this year. Again, the game started flat but within the first period we started to get good chances around the net with no reward. Our efforts were not paying off but we were in control of the game for the most part. Early in the second after many big saves by Paquette in net, Waterloo found a way on the scoreboard with a weird shot from an impossible angle. In the third period Waterloo found the net again by way of a convincing wrist shot by a Waterloo sniper that surprised everyone. 2-0 Waterloo early in the 3rd with lots of game left. Five minutes later Kuno, Thibeault and Deelstra converted to close the gap to 1. Unfortunately Waterloo answered back shortly after. With several chances missed in the dying minutes of the game, including a penalty shot, the 99 Lakers could not close the gap and they would go home to celebrate the Christmas Break with 3 back to back losses.
