The Festival Inn Major Bantams won 2 games this past weekend to close the gap to 4 points on 1st place Brantford.
On Friday, the Lakers travelled to Cambridge and, with another complete team effort, easily skated to a 4-1 victory. Derek Cowing opened the scoring with a short handed marker for the Lakers with Collin Whitfied drawing an assist. Brad McClure put the Lakers up by a pair on the power play with Mac Nichol & Austin Spencer assisting. Garrett Meurs tucked home a Nichol offering to stretch the lead to 3 before Cambridge squeeked a redirected point shot past Brett O'Drowsky late in the 3rd to break his bid for a 2nd straight shut out. Dylan Lazarus rounded out the Lakers scoring with Spencer & Meurs collecting assists.
On Saturday, the Lakers travelled down to Bothwell to finish the season series with the Chatham-Kent Cyclones. In their first meeting, the Cyclones escaped with a tie after a last minute goal. This time around, the Cyclones opened the scoring on the first shift of the game but after a nicely placed point shot from Jordan Currie, the teams once again found themselves in a tied hockey game going into the third period. The Cyclones took the lead early in the third before Meurs scored on the power play to put the teams back on even terms. Lazarus & Spencer drew assists. Less then a minute later, Meurs put the Lakers on top after stepping into a slap shot that found the bottom corner of the net. Lazarus & McClure assisted. With the Lakers on top & time ticking away, Chatham-Kent started to become frustrated & a steady stream of players headed to the penalty box. With the Lakers on the power play & the Chatham-Kent goalie on the bench, Meurs capped off the natural hattrick by scoring into the empty net to give the Lakers a solid 4-2 win. David Dalby & Nichol found the sheet with assists. Jake Partridge was outstanding in net, turning aside 21 of 23 shots he faced.
The 2 weekend wins extends the Lakers unbeaten streak to 5 games (3-0-2). Next game is scheduled for Saturday in Waterloo & then Sunday in Goderich against the West Division leading Elgin Middlesex Chiefs.