The NA Engineering Midget 'AAA' Lakers travelled to Cambridge on Friday night for a game against the surging Hawks.
With only 2 points separating the teams in the standings, the Lakers were looking to draw even before the night was complete.
Dean Klomp opened the scoring for the Lakers with
Darren Young &
Tyler Durst drawing assists. But before they could enjoy the lead, Cambridge potted the tying goal. From there, the Lakers were assessed 7 Minor Penalties to close out the middle frame & Cambridge promptly took a 3-1 lead heading into the 3rd period.
In the 3rd, the play appeared to balance out & the Lakers cashed in with 2 unanswered goals.
Wade Pfeffer found the mesh with assists going to
Braden Connolly &
Brett McGuinness. Minutes later, Klomp scored his 2nd of the night on the powerplay with Durst & Young once again grabbing the helpers forcing a 3-3 tie & a shoot-out to determine the winner. Cambridge snagged the extra point outscoring the Lakers to win 4-3 (SO). But coming from behind & earning a point on the road was bitter satisfaction for the Lakers.
On Saturday, the Lakers changed direction & travelled to Windsor for a pair of weekend games against the 2nd place Spitfires. That afternoon, the Lakers opened the scoring with Young finding the back of the net, completing a superb passing play from Klomp &
Connor Devereaux. However, a complete team defensive lapse after that allowed the Spitfires to open a 5-1 lead before the end of the 2nd period.
Thomas Bedour started the Lakers on the comeback trail after redirecting a
Spencer MacCormack pass that found the back of the net on the Powerplay. Klomp continued his offensive dominance by pulling the Lakers within 2 with their 2nd PP goal of the night, with Michael Cameron &
Patrick McLellan earning the assists. But that is as close as they would get as the clock ran out to hand the Lakers a 5-3 loss.
Sunday was a much better start for the Lakers. After a good night sleep, the players had a great team breakfast before heading to the rink. Learning from the small mistakes the day before, the team completely dominated for 2 1/2 periods, taking a solid 4-1 lead deep into the final period. Michael Cameron scored his 1st as a Laker on the PP, with assists going to Young & Klomp. Klomp then bagged a PP goal of his own with Young & Tolton assisting. Young found the back of the net himself minutes later with Klomp & Pfeffer being awarded the helpers.
Spencer MacCormack put on a stickhandling display after being sent in by Klomp & Young, completing turning the Windsor defense & the goaltender inside out to net the Lakers 4th of the game.
Heading into the 3rd, the Lakers seemed to loose a touch of the momentum & the Spitfires turned it on. In the closing minutes, Windsor made it a 1 goal game & were looking for the equalizer. With their goalie on the bench, Derick Mitchell was called on to make several key stops to preserve the Lakers 4-3 win.
After the weekend, Dean Klomp & Darren Young continue to lead the Alliance Midget Scoring lead. Klomp's 8 point weekend increases his total to 27 pts & Young notched 7 points to stay in 2nd with a total of 21 pts.