Sep 07, 2008 | mlandry | 916 views
Minor Bantams Beginning to Gel!
Minor Bantams settle for two weekend ties with Cambridge.
On Saturday in Listowel, the Lakers showed their fans and division rival, Cambridge Hawks an impressive display of puck possession and team toughness. The Lakers started a little rusty but settled in and played a confident game, controlling large stretches of the game. Goalie Joe "Tiny' Metzger was solid in goal facing sixteen shots. The Lakers defense did a good job keeping Cambridge to the outside and Metzger made a couple key saves when called on. 1st year forwards, Michael Siddall, Jared Zufelt and Drew Wood showed they will be offensive forces this season, creating scoring changes on most every shift.
The Lakers defense of Mackinley O'Keefe, Braydon Blight, Brett Stacey, Carter Strachan, Carter Simpson and Greg Orr had a fantastic game in all aspects of the game. The final score was 0-0 with the Lakers hitting a couple posts and missing the net on two terrific scoring chances.
On Sunday at the Cambridge Ice Center, the Hawks and Lakers played a penalty filled game. The referee whistle was out often with the Lakers picking up ten minor penalties to the Hawks five. The Hawks opened the scoring in the first on a power play. The Lakers then killed off eight straight minutes in penalties, including a long five on three disadvantage. Rookie goalie Graeme "Yao" Lauersen showed his new teammates great poise turning away some great Cambridge power play chances. Lauersen's play gave the Lakers some confidence and they tied the score mid way through the 2nd period on an unassisted power play rush from Braydon Blight. The first five minutes of the third were penalty free and the Lakers started controlling the play. This paid off with a nice five way passing play to create the go ahead goal. Carter Simpson and Brett Stacey broke out of the Lakers end with a quick outlet pass to Jared Zufelt who head manned the puck to Drew Wood. Wood unselfishly hit Greg Williams with a breakaway pass where he made no mistake beating the Cambridge goalie with a low shot. Unfortunately, the Hawks tied the score on a power play late in the game. The final ended 2-2 but the Lakers felt good about the outcome after being short handed for over half the game.
Most impressive about the Lakers play is the fact this team is starting to gel considering eight new players have joined the team this year. Veteran forwards Matthew McCracken, Iain "Roy" Donnelly, Jayden Landry, PJ "Doc" Conlon, Greg Williams and Greg Scott have combined with Jared Zufelt, Michael Siddall and Drew Wood to form three solid offensive lines. The defense pairs of Braydon Blight/Mackinley O'Keefe, Carter Strachan/Greg Orr and Brett Stacey/Carter Simpson look like they will become an impressive group of tough, puck moving defenseman.
The Lakers will spend this week fine tuning and readying for their first tournament appearance this coming weekend in Ajax-Pickering.