For the first time ever, the HP 95’s have defeated the Sun County Panthers. In a game that saw little flow over the first 2 periods due to 12 minor penalties, the Minor Bantams stuck to their game plan and gutted out a nice win over the Western Conference Panthers, 3-2 in Goderich on Sunday.
The Lakers opened the scoring in the 1st period while on a 5 on 3 powerplay, when Iain Donnelly (Matt McCracken) netted his 1st of 2 goals on the afternoon. Nice, quick puck movement resulted in a down-low goal, something the coaches had stressed prior to the game. Greg Scott (Braydon Blight; PJ Conlon) put the Lakers up 2-0, also on a 5 on 3, in the 2nd period when he crashed the net and potted a rebound off a nice “location” shot from Blight on the point. The team started the 3rd period on the right foot when the line of Drew Wood, Greg Williams and Donnelly scored 13 seconds into the period. A tremendous individual effort by Wood bringing the puck into the zone and around the Sun County defender resulted in a nice pass in front to a driving Donnelly, who made no mistake burying his second.
Sun County made the game interesting, scoring 2 goals in under a minute late in the 3rd period. Both goals came off small Lakers mistakes that the speedy Panthers converted into goals. Shortly after the Panthers' 2nd goal, Lakers goaltender Joe Metzger made an exceptional save sliding across the crease to rob a streaking Panthers player. This save woke the team up and helped carry them to this important victory.
Strong defensive zone coverage limited the Panthers to 17 shots, with the coaches being pleased to see continued improvement in the team’s transition game, as well as offensive zone cycle. The team does continue to average over 10 minutes of penalties/game, something that will hurt the team as the season unfolds if not addressed. Fortunately, against Sun County, the penalty kill was perfect.
Quicker puck movement on the powerplay will be a main focus in practice this week as the team prepares for 2 important East Division games, Thursday against Brantford and Sunday against Hamilton.