The Huron Perth Lakers AAA Major Peewees headed to the Oshawa Spirit Challenge hockey tournament this past weekend. After being a finalist in their last tournament the team had their sights set one step higher for this tournament…hoping to win their last game.
Game 1: Lakers 5 – Toronto Young Nationals 1
The Lakers opening game had them matched up against the Toronto Young Nationals…a team looking to avenge a previous tournament loss. Early in the game, goalie
Eric Ryan had to be sharp to keep the Nationals off the score board. At the mid way point,
Nathan Templeman picked up a loose puck at centre and chipped it to himself. He cut in and slid the puck under the goalie for a 1-0 lead. Ten minutes into the period, it was
Templeman again finding the back of the net for the Lakers' second goal. With two minutes to play,
Taylor Moir and
Ryan Stulp-Jacobson teamed up to get the puck to
Bayley Boyes.
Boyes took a shot that fooled the goalie for a 3-0 lead. With seconds remaining,
Brody Tenpas fed the puck to
Templeman who placed a back handed pass on the stick of
Derek Elliott who fired the puck into the net giving the Lakers a 4-0 lead. The second period was played evenly with
Ryan making a couple of key saves. The third period started with both teams battling hard. The Nationals got on the score board at the nine minute marker. Minutes later, it was
Andrew Bogdon and
McKenzie Carter forcing the play deep and getting the puck to
Gregory Swan who blasted a one timer high into the net making the final score 5-1.
Game 2: Lakers 4 – Timmins Storm 2
The second game had the Lakers up against a tough good skating team from Timmins. One minute into the period, Moir got the puck to
Roland McKeown who fired a shot on net.
Boyes found the rebound on his stick and fired the first goal into the net. The Lakers ran into some penalty trouble and goalie
Cole Thomas had to make a couple of fine saves. Eight minutes into the period, the Storm tied the score at one. Seconds later, the Lakers answered with their own goal.
Templeman moved the puck towards the net and
Tenpas jammed in the second goal. The Lakers started the third period with a two man advantage but could not capitalize on this power play. Five minutes into the period,
Alex Peters moved the puck up the wing to
Moir who kept the puck wide and feathered a great pass to
Boyes.
Boyes made no mistake giving the Lakers a 3-1 lead. With three minutes to play, the Storm made the score 3-2.
Thomas was very steady in net to keep the Storm at two goals. With three seconds to play,
Keigan Goetz fired a long shot into the empty net making the final score 4-2.
Game 3: Lakers 4 – St. Catharines Falcons 0
The third game had
Eric Ryan tending net for the Lakers and he did that with excellence, earning a shut out. The Lakers came out of the gate quickly again as
Moir fed a pass to
McKeown in the slot.
McKeown loaded up a slap shot that found the back of the net. Minutes later,
Moir fed
Goetz who took a shot on net.
Boyes found the rebound and put the Lakers up 2-0. With one minute to play in the period,
McKeown made a perfect cross ice pass to
Garrett James who fired a perfect one-timer into the back of the net putting the Lakers up 3-0. The second period was played evenly with some fine body checks being dished out by the Lakers. With seconds remaining in the period,
Ryan flashed the leather to make a great glove save. The third period was highlighted by the goal tending of
Ryan as he had to make several great saves during a super two man penalty kill.
Ryan also showed his play making ability as he moved the puck up to the forwards late in the period. With seconds remaining, it was
Goetz again getting the empty net goal to make the final score 4-0.
Game 4: Lakers 5 – Markham Majors 2
After a long day putting in time, the coaching staff had their work cut out for them to rev up the Lakers engine to play this high flying Greater Toronto team. The Lakers did come out firing on all cylinders and scored at the ten second mark.
McKeown started in the Lakers end zone…banked a pass to himself off the wall and flew by the defenders ripping a great shot into the net. Two minutes later,
Elliott worked the puck down low to
Templeman who spotted
Stulp-Jacobson sneaking in from the blue line.
Stulper fired a one timer into the net giving the Lakers a 2-0 lead. At the eleven minute marker, goalie
Cole Thomas stole the show with three saves…a blocker save, a glove save and a pad save to keep the momentum in the Lakers' favour. With two minutes to play, the Lakers had a goal called back that seemed to slow the game down for the remainder of the period. The second period started with the Lakers getting many good chances but the Majors goalie was on top of his game.
Alex Peters lobbed a shot in and the Majors' goalie forgot what sport it was and used his head to re-direct the shot into the corner. With four and a half minutes left in the period,
Carter won the face off with
Swan letting fly a shot on net.
Carter followed the puck and pushed the rebound into the net making the score 3-0. The Majors finally got on the score board late in the period…3-1 heading onto the third period. After the break, the Lakers continued to pressure the play but could not buy an extra goal. At the mid way point the Majors found the back of the net to make the score 3-2. The Lakers did not let this affect their intense high pressure game as they continued to push the play forward. With five minutes to play,
McKeown smartly kept the puck alive and found defense partner
Peters all across the blue line. With
Swan parked right in front of the goalie,
Peters let fly a booming slap shot that bulged the netting making the score 4-2. On the next shift,
Frasier Lewis made a fine defensive play to clear the puck from harms way. The Majors tried to pull their goalie but the Lakers continued to out hustle and out bump the Majors right until the end of the game. With seconds ticking down,
Elliott set up shop behind the Majors' net and put a pass right on the stick of
Tenpas who quickly shot the puck past the goalie making the final score 5-2. The Lakers earned full marks for this high energy win and did not record any penalties during this game.
Game 5: Lakers 4 – Toronto Young Nationals 3
The Lakers took to the ice Sunday morning to play a familiar foe as they were playing the Nationals for the third time in a three week period. Five minutes into the period,
McKeown led the offensive rush down the right wing and perfectly slid the puck to
Bayley Boyes who chipped the puck into the net putting the Lakers up by one. Goalie
Eric Ryan made several good saves during the first period to keep the Lakers ahead. Many penalties were called during the second period and took the flow out of this game. During a two man disadvantage,
Ryan was called upon to make a good glove save and used his pads to make a couple of saves. During this penalty kill,
Carter Stewart was especially strong controlling the Young Nationals forwards down low. At the ten minute marker, the Nationals finally got on the board with a goal that bounced off a couple of players and finally found the back of the net to tie the score. Four minutes later, the Nationals caught the Lakers on a slow change and scored on a break away from centre ice to take the lead 2-1. With seconds ticking down,
Ryan made a fantastic glove save which kept the Lakers in this game. The Lakers started the all important third period on the power play…the winner of this game moving on to the championship game.
McKeown controlled the puck and seemed to control the Nationals then all of a sudden moved the puck to defensive partner
Stulp-Jacobson who ripped a laser shot high into the net tying the score at 2. Moments later,
Ryan was called upon again to make a couple of fine saves that pushed the momentum to his team. At the nine minute mark, it was
McKeown again firing a wrist shot on the Nationals' goalie that found the five hole and the back of the net giving the Lakers a well earned 3-2 lead. With five minutes to play,
McKeown was again controlling the play moving quickly down the right wing deep into the Nationals' zone.
McKeown waited patiently and found
Swan in the slot who buried a wrist shot just under the bar to get an all important 4th goal. With fourteen seconds remaining, the Nationals scored a power play goal to make the score 4-3. After the next face off the Lakers pushed the puck forward with the clock eventually ticking down with the buzzer sounding and this Lakers team heading to the Championship Game.
Roland McKeown contributed on each goal scoring one and recording three assists.
Game 6: Lakers 4 – Oshawa Generals 1
At 12:15 on Sunday the Lakers took to the ice with their home white jerseys to take on the host team, the Oshawa Generals. After shaking hands the official dropped the puck at 12:22 pm to start the Spirit Challenge Championship Game. The first few minutes found both teams being cautious. Four minutes in to the game, the Generals fired a long shot from the blue line and caught a break as the puck bounced off a player and went into the net for the game's first goal. The Lakers were getting some early chances but could not find their offensive touch. With two minutes to go, the Generals had an odd man rush when
Bogdon back checked hard to take away the play as goalie
Cole Thomas made a very good save. The Generals ran into some penalty trouble to begin the second period. The Lakers finally clicked at the eleven minute marker as
Templeman passed the puck to
McKeown who loaded up a shot into the net tying the score at one. Two minutes later, the Lakers were back on the power play.
Moir pushed the puck towards the front of the net that was full of bodies…when
Boyes jammed the puck into the net putting the Lakers up 2-1. One minute later, the Lakers found themselves killing off a penalty.
Thomas had to be sharp to keep the score at 2-1. After killing that penalty, the Lakers went to work with
James and
Goetz moving the puck back and forth.
James fired a perfect shot on net then
Moir took the rebound and scored the third goal. With nine minutes to play,
Thomas made a glove save that took some of the energy out of the Generals and kept the momentum turned towards the Lakers. With a minute and one half to play,
Elliott fed a pass to
James moving in from the blue line.
James took aim and ripped a wrist shot low on the glove side into the net just eluding the Generals goalie making the score 4-1….the final winning score 4-1. When the buzzer sounded a post game pile up celebration took place by the jubilant Lakers team.
Again this team, staff and management were good ambassadors for the Lakers association during this tournament. A couple of well deserved individual awards were presented.
Nathan Templeman was named the tournament’s Top Offensive Player and
Roland McKeown was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.
McKeown was called upon to accept the Championship trophy with his teammates joining him in the celebration.
During a short article with so many games over a weekend it is impossible to note all the great and/or important plays….but it is suffice to say that each player contributed over the weekend and this entire Lakers team should be very proud of them selves of how they played each game. Well done Champions.
Next up…no rest…a tune up practice then off to Kitchener on January 14th for a key Alliance match up.