Heading into weekend games against Hamilton & Cambridge, the Lakers had the opportunity to make up some ground in the East Division.
On Saturday, the Lakers had a strong performance playing at home against Hamilton. Good puck movement & team play was the story of the game as Mitch McIntosh opened the scoring for the Lakers with assists from Dylan Lazarus & Nick Tybik. Garrett Meurs put the Lakers up by 2 with Brad McClure grabbing the helper. With Hamilton on their heels & unable to create anything offensive, Jake Partridge was able to turn aside all the shots he faced to snag his 2nd shutout of the Regular Season.
On Sunday, the Lakers traveled to Cambridge looking for another win. Partridge was back between the pipes as the team looked to carry the momentum from the previous day. But a slow start by the team saw them quickly fall behind as Cambridge scored 16 seconds into the game. Meurs drew the teams even 3 minutes later after converting on a Brad McClure pass. Cambridge got the lead in the 2nd but the 2 Laker snipers were at it again as Meurs capped off another McClure pass to draw the game even once again.
The game appeared to stall out as no real offensive opportunities were created heading into the final minutes of play. The Lakers picked up their game & forced Cambridge into a penalty. With 33 seconds remaining, Meurs knocked home the game winner for the hattrick after some hard skating & determination by McClure & Calvin Penney to get the puck towards the net. Ryan Chambers round out the scoring after depositing a Sam Feagan pass into the empty net to secure the win & cap off a 4 point weekend.
Seeing the team go 4-1-0 in their last 5 games has moved the Lakers up the standings in the East with only 2 points now separating them from 2nd place & reduces the deficit to 12 points out of 1st.
Next up is a match against the 2nd place Waterloo Wolves on Saturday night at RIM Park & the 1st place Brantford 99’ers on Sunday in St. Marys.