Lakers Battle Jr. Knights to the End
The Huron Perth Lakers AAA Major Peewees traveled to London on March 3rd to play the Jr. Knights in the fifth game of the Alliance semi-final six point series that was tied at four points each. The previous games had all been close games with both teams competing hard. The talk in the foyer had this game also being a hard fought, close game. The teams were called to centre ice at 7:30 pm for the opening face off and the potentially deciding game was officially started.
Both teams came out skating hard and playing aggressive hockey along the boards. With the play five on five the Lakers dominated most times. The Lakers had good scoring chances early in the game. Four minutes into the game
Roland McKeown picked up a loose puck in the Knights' end. He fought off the Knights' defender and quickly snapped a hard low shot into the net giving the Lakers an early 1-0 lead. Immediately following the goal, goalie
Cole Thomas made a fine pad save to keep the momentum in the Lakers' favour. With four minutes to play in the period,
Derek Elliott was battling for the puck down low when
McKeown picked off a clearing attempt. He went cross ice into the slot area and flipped a perfect back hand shot into the top corner off the bar for a 2-0 lead.
The second period started with the Knights on the power play. Thirty seconds into the period the Knights closed the gap to 2-1. At the ten minute marker,
Thomas made a great save to keep the Lakers up by one. With four minutes to play in the second period
McKenzie Carter,
Andrew Bogdon and
Gregory Swan had the Knights hemmed in their zone.
Swan chipped the puck back to
Frasier Lewis who fired a good low shot which was tipped in front by
Swan giving the Lakers a 3-1 lead. The next few minutes were literally end to end with both teams playing offence first, defense second.
With fifteen minutes to play… with a win one team would move on to the finals and one would shake hands for the last time this season. Somewhere – someone pushed the momentum button as the game momentum turned completely in the Knights' favour. The Lakers ran into penalty trouble and found themselves two men down against a super Knights power play. The Knights scored three goals in less than three minutes to take a 4-3 lead. As was characteristic of this Lakers team all year – they did not quit. Midway through the period they had some good scoring chances by
Keigan Goetz,
Bayley Boyes and
Taylor Moir but could not get the equalizer. The Knights scored a couple of late period goals to earn a 6-3 victory. The Lakers can hold their heads high as they competed very hard right to the end of this well played series.
The Lakers ended the year with a 41-19-11 record. They were first in their Alliance league division, finalist in the Burlington Golden Horseshoe tournament and won the Oshawa Fury Challenge.
Congratulations on a fine season team!