The HPL PeeWees started their Alliance League Championship Series on Saturday, losing 4-1 to the Windsor Jr. Spitfires.
The game started slowly for the Lakers, likely due to “snow blindness” picked up on the trip to Windsor. Outshot 11-1 after the first 10 minutes, were it not for goalie Joe Metzger, the game would have been a formality early. As it was, the team entered the 2nd period trailing only 1-0 off a Windsor power play goal.
An early 2nd period goal by Windsor was countered by a power play goal from the Lakers. Jayden Landry feathered a nice pass to defenceman Greg Scott who aimed a hard, low slapshot at the Windsor net. Stationed in the high slot, Greg Williams got his stick on the puck, tipping it past the Windsor netminder.
Much tighter defence significantly limited the Spitfire’s chances for the remainder of the 2nd period. While they were clearly the faster skating team, our guys stuck to their positions and didn’t allow the speedy Windsor players to get many good scoring chances.
Trailing 2-1 heading into the 3rd period, the Lakers gave up 2 quick, early 3rd period goals and, despite a couple of nice scoring chances as the game wore on, were unable to close the gap.
The second game in the Series will be played in Goderich on March 16th. Prior to that, however, the Lakers will play in Young Canada Week in Goderich on the 14th and 15th of March, with games against Grey-Bruce, Cambridge and Kitchener.