The Major Atom Huron-Perth Lakers travelled to Rochester, NY to battle some of the best in a 3-day tournament of 21 teams. The Lakers came home with two wins, three losses and, more importantly, increased confidence in themselves.
The first game of the tournament for the Lakers pitted them against the highly ranked Syracuse Stars. Despite the odds, the Lakers challenged the Stars, with the Lakers scoring the first goal of the game from Nick Jung on a great pass from Josh Scott. The whole team worked well together, with great passing, strong back checking and solid defence. Joab Egbers was excellent between the pipes, keeping the Stars at only 2 goals going into the third, with one being on the power play. MacKinnon Hawkins scored a beauty goal from Chayse Herrfort to tie the game. Both teams played hard for the go ahead goal but the Stars capitalized on an unfortunate bounce, made a fast turnover, and took the lead 3-2 with 48 seconds left in the game. Despite the one goal loss, the players and parents were proud of the effort made by the whole team.
The Lakers took on the Toledo Cherokee in Game 2 on Friday, but the game play was very different than the first game. With 13 Lakers penalties, the team spent much of the game shorthanded. Despite this disadvantage, goals were scored by Herrfort, Cole McKee, Hawkins (2) and Jon Baker, with assists going to Justin McCarter, Herrfort, Baker and Hawkins. The game was tied at 5 with three and a half minutes left in the game when the Cherokee came up with their sixth goal. Wyatt Nicholson played strong in net and, although the Cherokee netted 6 goals, 4 were on the power play. Again, the Lakers finished the game with a one goal loss. The team played some good hockey on Friday and the outcome could have just as easily been having the team up two games as down by two.
At 8:00 am the Lakers faced off against the Don Mills Flyers on Olympic sized ice. The Lakers looked tired but played a respectable game for the first two periods. The third period saw a lot of Lakers penalties and the Flyers capitalized taking the spread to a 7-3 game. Laker goals went to McCarter, Luka Marinic and Herrfort with assists to Herrfort, McKee (2), Baker and McCarter.
12 hours later the Lakers played the Hamburg Hawks. The Major Atoms were down 2-0 at the start of the third but the team battled hard to tie the score with goals coming from Jung on a play by Scott as well as an unassisted goal by Baker. The Lakers had great pressure through the overtime period of 4 on 4 hockey. Marinic scored the game winner on a great pass from Herrfort for the 3-2 victory.
The Major Atoms' fifth game of the tournament was Sunday against the Cranston Rhode Island Flames. The Lakers played well disciplined hockey and took a very limited number of penalties. They also capitalized on Cranston’s nine penalties with 4 power play goals. The whole team played confidently; with good puck control and driving the puck to the net. The defence did a great job of clearing the zone and both Egbers and Nicholson were solid in net. The final score was Lakers 6, Flames 1. The efforts of the whole team produced goals by McKee, McCarter, Liam Melady, Jung, Marinic and Keenan Conlon.
The Lakers had a weekend of good hockey and team bonding. They will take this experience back to the regular season and face off this Saturday against the London Jr. Knights in Stratford at the Rotary Complex at 1:30. Come out and cheer this team on!