The Huron Perth Lakers AAA Major Atoms took to the road to take on the Brantford 99’ers in a must win game on February 26th as 99’ers held a 5 to 3 point lead in the 6 point series. With news that a few of the players were feeling ill the coaching staff had their worked cut out for them. The Lakers responded to the staff and came out flying having their best start of the series to date. The Lakers applied some good pressure early but could not find the back of the net. The Lakes power play went to work 2 minutes into the game. Bayley Boyes, Garrett James, Quinton Haddock, Jared McCann and Gregory Swan moved the puck well and had a few good shots but the 99’ers goalie was up to the challenge. Five minutes into the game a screened shot from the Brantford blue line to put the 99’ers up 1-0. Minutes later goalie Kent Taylor made a fabulous blocker save to keep the score close. Defense partners Alex Peters and Ryan Stulp Jacobson both made some fine body checks which helped to slow down the 99’ers speedy forwards.
The second period was end to end with both teams peppering the goalies with shots. The line of Maverick Petrie, Carter Stewart and Keigan Goetz were flying early in the period and hemmed the 99’ers in their own zone. They just missed on a couple of offensive attempts. At 7:35 of the period Brantford upped their lead to 2-0. As Brantford tried to take complete control of the game defenseman Connor Shaw took control of the puck behind our net and regained control. Shaw made a good pass up the wall to relieve the pressure. It would have been easy for the Lakers to give up being down in the series and down 2-0 on the scoreboard heading into the 3rd. This team has not given up all year and they showed their heart and determination once again. McCann got the period going as he made a bone crunching check right in front of the Lakers bench. After two questionable calls, including a bench minor, the Lakers found themselves killing off a full two minutes of being short 2 players. The team did a great job killing of this situation and Taylor made a couple of key saves to keep the score within reach. With four minutes remaining Swan picked up a lose puck at centre ice and chipped a long pass into the 99’ers corner. Nathan Templeman came flying up the wall and man handled the 99’ers defenseman for the puck. Templeman pushed the puck to Derek Elliott who cut hard to the net and made a perfect shot high over the goalies glove to bring the Lakers to within one goal at 2-1. The Lakers continued to apply offensive pressure and had several shots at the Brantford net. Coach Petrie pulled Taylor for the extra attacker with the face off deep in the 99’ers zone. The Lakers won the face off but the 99’ers stole the puck and proceeded to feather a long shot into the empty net with 50 seconds remaining. Again the Lakers showed that this addition of the Major Atoms would not quit. With 19 seconds remaining James fired a hard shot from the blue line that Elliott tipped on net. Swan came in and pulled the loose puck back and fired the puck into the net making the score 3-2. One final offensive push fell short and the 99’ers earned the series victory. The Lakers would like to thank all their sweater sponsors and their team sponsor McCann Construction (Matt & Erin McCann, Stratford) for their generous support this year.