A lightening-quick glove save by HPL PeeWee’s goalie
Joe Metzger late in the 3rd period preserved a hard-fought 2-1 Lakers’ victory over the East Division leading Cambridge Hawks Sunday in St. Marys.
Playing a strong 45-minute game, the Lakers were rewarded with an important victory Sunday. Playing the Cambridge Hawks for the 2nd time this season, the team was able to exact revenge for a tough 4-2 loss in Cambridge 10 days ago. The team came out flying, scoring a goal on the first shift of the game. Strong pressure in the Cambridge zone led to a Cambridge give-away to defenseman Mackinley O’Keefe. O’Keefe let a low, hard slap shot go and watched as it was tipped in the high-slot by Jayden Landry into the goal. Cambridge was able to tie the game up before the end of the period on the powerplay.
The Lakers again took the lead late in the 2nd period, this time for good. The line of Landry, Cole Ciccone and Greg Williams hemmed the Hawks in their zone with some strong fore-checking and cycling of the puck. A goal mouth scramble resulted in Williams putting the puck in the net off assists from Ciccone and Landry. From here on out, Metzger closed the door on the Hawks. Despite the victory, the game could have been costly as two regulars – defenceman Tyler McNaughton and winger Landry – left the game with injuries.
The victory over the Hawks took some of the sting out of a loss a day earlier to the Waterloo Wolves 6-2 in Wingham. While lop-sided on the scoreboard, the game itself was a bit closer. The teams exchanged goals in the first period. The Lakers first goal was again off some strong forechecking by the line of Williams, Ciccone and Landry. Landry sent a nice feed in front to Ciccone who made no mistake and roofed a backhand. Waterloo took a 2-1 lead on the powerplay late in the first, however, Greg Scott made a nice play sweeping a rebound into the net to tie the game at 2 before the end of the period. Assists went to Connor Johnson and Austin Chaffe.
Waterloo took the lead for good at the 10-minute mark of the 2nd period then scored with under 20 seconds left in the period to take the wind out of the Lakers' sails. Two more unanswered Waterloo goals in the 3rd finished the scoring. As has happened in a few games this year, the team again learned how quickly defensive zone give-aways can end up in your net.
The team next takes to the ice on December 5th when they travel to Brantford to play the 99’ers.