The HP PeeWee Lakers picked up a much-needed victory Monday night, skating away with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the hometown Kitchener Rangers. The game was the team's first after returning from the Shanahan International Ice Hockey Tournament this past weekend.
Trailing 1-0 late in the 2nd period after some fairly evenly matched play, Matthew McCracken scored two goals, both on the power play, in under 2 minutes to put the Lakers ahead for good. McCracken’s first goal was with the team enjoying a 2-man advantage. Iain Donnelly started the play by keeping the puck in at the blueline, moving into the high slot and letting a shot go on goal. The shot was too hard for the Kitchener goalie to handle and McCracken pounced on the rebound. His 2nd goal, just 13 seconds into the 3rd frame, was helped by two nice plays. First, centre Ben Kirwin won the face-off by pushing the puck forward and behind the Kitchener defenceman. A heads-up Gregory Scott beat the defenceman to the puck, took a low hard shot that again was not controlled. McCracken had skated hard to the net and was rewarded for his efforts.
After the team’s 2nd goal, they handed the reins over to goalie Ben Errington who was at his best. He stopped 10 Kitchener shots in the 3rd, most from ideal scoring positions, and many coming off the 4 power plays handed Kitchener in the 3rd. His acrobatics however preserved the victory.
The victory was a good confidence booster as the team had returned from the Shanahan International Ice Hockey Tournament on the weekend sporting an 0-4 record. Notwithstanding the record, however, the team did at times play some of its most complete hockey of the season.
They opened the tournament Friday afternoon playing the then unknown Flint Icelanders ’95 Selects. While the game was within reach for the team, 7 Lakers penalties kept flow out of the game. Flint capitalized, scoring 3 power play goals. The lone Lakers goal also came off the power play when Travis Bender knocked home a rebound off a goal mouth scramble. The team’s 2nd game of the day was against the Toronto Jr. Canadiens, who handed the Lakers a 7-0 defeat. While the score was lop-sided, the team did maintain focus and did not allow themselves to be intimidated by the bigger and faster Canadiens.
Saturday saw the dawning of a new day with all parents and players fresh after a nice hockey tournament hotel night that resulted in no formal eviction notices. Playing their most inspired stretch of hockey so far this year, the team started the day off playing the West Seneca Wings. They kept the Wings hemmed up in their zone for much of the early part of the 1st period, generated a number of quality scoring chances, and even drew a penalty shot. Special teams however played havoc with the Lakers as they gave up 3 power-play goals and surrendered two more while on power-plays of their own. The final score ended up 7-1.
The team’s last game of the Tournament was against the St. Catherines Falcons. The team took an early lead when PJ Conlon intercepted a Falcons’ clearing attempt, went in alone and ended the play with a nice deek. The Falcons tied the game up before the end of the period while on their only power play of the game. The Falcons then scored 3 more goals to take a 4-1 lead into the last 8 minutes of the game. Not wanting the tournament to end this way, the Lakers dug deep, scoring 2 goals in the last 4 minutes of the game, almost evening the score in the last minute while on the power play. Goal scorers were Cole Ciccone and McCracken, with Connor Johnson, Jayden Landry and Ciccone picking up assists.
The team next takes to the ice this coming weekend when they travel to Hamilton on Saturday to play the Reps and then host the Chatham-Kent Cyclones Sunday at 4 p.m. at the
Maitland Recreation Centre in Goderich. Good seats remain for both games.