The last weekend of the Alliance league had the Major Peewees playing two key road games. The Lakers needed to win both games to give them a chance to earn first place in the East Division. Short players due to sickness and a suspension the Lakers had their work cut out for them.
Lakers 6 – Hamilton Reps 2;
The Lakers traveled to Hamilton on January 17th to play the Reps who had been playing well as of late winning a couple of recent games.
Cole Thomas was given the start in net. Two minutes into the game the Reps took the lead. The Lakers answered back three minutes later when
Bayley Boyes showed great patience with the puck down low. He found
Roland McKeown sneaking in from the blue line and
McKeown used a one-timer to score the tying goal. Late in the period,
Carter Stewart made a fantastic defensive play on a two on one. With seconds ticking down,
Stewart had his stick chopped from his hands. Forward
Gregory Swan passed his stick to
Stewart with the puck getting cleared from harms way. At the break,
Coach Goetz encouraged the Lakers to find their next gear…and that is exactly what the team did as they came out skating quicker in the second period.
Early in the second period,
Thomas robbed a Rep to keep the score tied. Seconds later, the Lakers came down the ice and took the lead.
Ryan Stulp-Jacobson fired a long low shot on net and
Boyes dug out the rebound chipping the puck into the net for a 2-1 lead. On the next shift,
Nathan Templeman and
Brody Tenpas led the forecheck which resulted in
Derek Elliott pushing the puck into the net from close range upping the score to 3-1. With two minutes to play in the period,
Keigan Goetz and
Boyes teamed up to get the puck to
Alex Peters who ripped a great shot into the net for a 4-1 lead.
The Lakers played the third period using some tactics to practice playing and protecting the lead. The Lakers penalty killing was almost perfect as they carried the play when playing a man down. Six minutes into the period,
Thomas made a nice pad save to keep the score at 4-1. With four minutes to play,
Goetz kept the puck in the Reps' zone.
Boyes picked up the puck and hit
McKeown with a cross ice pass.
McKeown made no mistake putting the Lakers up 5-1. With a couple of minutes to play,
Tenpas flipped the puck out front and
Elliott found the rebound re-directing it into the net giving the Lakers a 6-1 lead. With seconds remaining, the Lakers let up for a moment and the Reps made a nice passing play to eventually make the final score 6-2. The Lakers played with controlled emotion against a tough team as they only were called for two penalties during the game.
Lakers 4 – Brantford 99’ers 1;
The Lakers were on the road again on January 18th traveling to Brantford with the possibility of earning first place in the East Division…but would need to win a game against a team that has had their number this year.
Coach Goetz gave
Eric Ryan the start in goal for this pivotal Alliance league game. The Lakers came out flying and were rewarded with a goal 26 seconds into the game.
Goetz and
Taylor Moir were working the puck down low.
Boyes was attempting to get a shot off in front of the net.
McKeown found the loose puck and fired a low shot on net. With the puck bouncing in the blue paint it looked like the Referee might blow the play down but the puck continued to stay loose.
Moir finally found the puck and fired it into the net giving the Lakers an early 1-0 lead. Two minutes into the game, the Lakers continued their good start.
McKenzie Carter moved the puck down the wall to
Alex Peters who found
Swan in front of the net.
Swan got off a good shot with the rebound going to
Peters who found the back of the net for a 2-0 Lakers lead. Late in the period, the Lakers penalty killers blanketed the 99’ers and gave them no opportunity to score.
The Lakers started the second period quickly again with
Moir passing the puck to
Peters who let fly a good shot on net. Templeman was in perfect position to tap in the rebound making the score 3-0. A couple of shifts later defenseman
Fraiser Lewis made a good baseball style play gloving a clearing attempt to keep the puck in the 99’ers zone. Next shift it was
Ryan being very sharp to cover up a loose puck to calm the play down and force a face off allowing his team mates to re-group. Mid way through the period the Lakers penalty killers again went to work keeping the 99’ers off the scoreboard. With 3 minutes to play in the period,
Elliott moved the puck to
Templeman who flipped a high shot which fooled the goalie.
Tenpas waited patiently for the puck to get below his shoulders and then tipped the puck into the net giving the Lakers a 4-0 lead heading to the third period.
The third period was played evenly with the Lakers gaining no bounces around the 99’ers net. The 99’ers power play notched a goal 3 minutes into the period making the score 4-1. On the next shift
Ryan made a good pad save to keep the momentum going with the Lakers. As the buzzer sounded to end the game the Lakers knew they had done what was asked of them. The team played a dominate game earning the right to earn first place in the East Division. Congratulations are in order for
Coach Goetz, his staff and of course this hard working Lakers Peewee team who are riding a 12 game winning streak having won 17 of their last 18 games.
Next up is a few tune up practices and then the sights are set on the Alliance League Championship.