Minor Bantams vs. Kitchener Junior Rangers December 19
For the second time in a row goaltender
Kent Taylor would get the start against his old team and the results would be the same. The Lakers came out a little slow in this one and even with Kitchener shorthanded the Lakers could not manage a shot on net. Still early in the first the Lakers would give Kitchener‘s power play a chance and Kitchener would score to take a one goal lead.
This is exactly what the Lakers needed as they started to skate like the league leading team that they are. At the 8:43 mark Roland McKeown would work the puck in low and try to slide the puck past the Rangers goaltender. While the goalie was able to make the first save he was unable to stop Derek Elliott who drove the net to bang home the rebound. Just over a minute later Jacob Middleton would carry the puck end-to-end, circle the Kitchener net and while fighting off a checker make a great pass to Nathan Templeman. Rather than try to jam the puck in, Templeman would pass the puck back across the crease toMcKenzie Carter who buried the puck for a very pretty goal. Kitchener would almost even it up when a hard cross ice pass deflected off of a Laker skate, but Taylor made a great reflex save stretching out into the splits to maintain the lead. Some very physical play by Drew Gross then freed up the puck and he carried it down the ice, passed off to Jared Weishar who fed it to Quinton Haddock who banked it off the Kitchener goalie and in. The period ended with shots even at 11 apiece.
The Lakers continued pressing in the second and the line of Bayley Boyes, Garrett James and Keegan McLelland would keep the Rangers hemmed in resulting in the second power play for the Lakers as a tired Kitchener player took a slashing penalty. The Lakers would keep the Rangers deep in their end for most of the period and although some big shots came in from defensemen Alex Peters, Carter Stewart and Ryan Stulp the period would end with no additional scoring.
The third period had Kitchener try and generate some offense as the Lakers took three penalties. The work that the coaching staff of Jutzi, Pettigrew and Kreller has done on penalty killing all year was again evident as the Lakers generated as many chances as they gave up during the penalty kills. The Lakers would put this one out of reach when they were given a power play opportunity of their own. McKeown would start the break out and pass off to Middleton who carried the puck the length of the ice and fire the puck from the far boards straight through the goalie's legs.
Final 4-1 Lakers. Shots 29-19 in favour of the Lakers.
written by Jeff Taylor