HOLY MAKINAW! What a Game... What a Series!
The HPL Minor Peewees finished 3 points behind first place (Eastern Division) Brantford and 2 points behind second place Waterloo and had the honour of facing the Wolves in the first round. A regular season record of 1-2-1 against the Wolves had the Lakers knowing they would need to play well to advance to the Semi-Final in Playdowns. Six games later with a goal differential of 1, the Lakers came out victorious in a series that will live in the hearts and minds of all that witnessed it for some time to come.
To set the stage for the final game, a synopsis of the series:
Game 1 in Waterloo resulted in a 2-2 tie with respective squads taking home a point each.
Game 2 in Wingham the Lakers were victorious 4-3 in another terrific match.
Game 3 held back in Waterloo had the Lakers drop a 2-1 contest in overtime.
Game 4 was a disappointing 4-1 loss at home to the Wolves, a game in which the Lakers squad had great legs and tenacity but no bounces would go their way.
Ah
Game 5, to those that were unfortunately unable to witness game 6 you would think it could get no more exciting than to come from a 4-2 deficit with eleven and a half minutes left in the third and win 7-4. A testament to the winning attitude this squad has developed as a trademark. Few teams let deficits inspire them, most relinquish defeat far before the final buzzer sounds. This group of kids however have time and time again come from behind to shock and disappoint opponents. Waterloo experienced that mid-season when the Lakers erased another three goal deficit in the third period to steal a point. All of this is was what transpired prior to game 6.
And now, the main event:
Game 6.
With both Waterloo and the Lakers sitting at 5 points apiece in the six point series, they would face off Monday night at 8 pm in Goderich at the Memorial Arena. An arena rich with heritage that has been the site of many playoff games, although very few with this degree of drama. Both squads were charged up and provided little room to move during the first period resulting in a scoreless draw going into the second.
Things began to open up at the ten minute mark of the second when
Ryan Stulp-Jacobsen made a great play he unfortunately would not get credited with an official assist on. He rushed the puck to the opponent's blueline where he was sandwiched by two Wolves looking to take him down. As has happened so many times this year with our physically imposing defensive core he was the one left standing while two opponents found themselves behind the play and flat on the ice.
Jared McCann did the math and, realizing the odd man advantage, scooped up the puck and made a terrific back door pass to
Keigan Goetz who drained it for the 1-0 lead. The Wolves were not content to sit back and lose this game. The Wolves caught us deep in our end, way overdue for a change at the 3 minute mark and converted for the equalizer. They were able to enjoy their equal status for a minute and ten seconds before
Bailey Boyes won a great faceoff back in the offensive zone which
Derek Elliott directed to
Garrett James for the smokin' one timer from the point.
Spencer Stevenson had peeled directly to the front of the net and redirected the razor of a shot five hole on Waterloo's keeper who had no chance. Again the Lakers had the goal advantage and would take a 2-1 lead in the third.
The third period was end to end excitement. The ten minute mark of the third would test the Lakers as Goetz delivered an overzealous hit from behind. The Lakers had to kill a two minute penalty and were now reduced to a bench of 11 skaters as
McKenzie Carter was in the stands serving his time for similar aggressive behavior in the previous game. The squad executed the 1-1-2 open ice fore-check perfectly and Waterloo could not gain control of the puck in the offensive zone with the man advantage. The Lakers maintained their goal advantage until the 1:51 mark of the third when some aggressive coaching by the Wolves pulled their goalie as the faceoff was in the Lakers zone. Two clean wins by the Lakers back to back and two less than ideal icings going for the open net resulted in the Wolves finally winning a clean faceoff to the point where their defenseman made no mistake hammering it home. Regulation would end with a 2-2 draw.
The playdown contract stipulated up to three 10 minute, sudden victory overtime periods in a deciding game. Should neither team score in the 30 minutes of overtime another game would be scheduled. The Lakers coaches reminded the players of our approach right back to the August camp. We aspired to be in good enough shape where our skill would dictate our success, not our conditioning. Those two a day two hour practices with dryland and cross-training worked out. Our squad of eleven skaters had twice the energy of the Waterloo squad of 14 in the overtime. Despite out-shooting our opponent drastically in OT, it still took until the 1:25 mark of the third overtime period before the Lakers put it home. Spencer Stevenson and Jared McCann both crashed the net and had shots before the puck kicked out of the scrum to be picked up by
Nathan Templeman and deposited into the top of the net. The barn went wild, many speechless as to what they had witnessed.
Many thanks to Waterloo for their sportsmanship, they have nothing to hang their heads over, and best wishes to them in the playoff round.