The HPL Major Pee Wees learned they need to play a full game if they want to advance in tournament play.
The Lakers opened the tournament on a very positive note with a 4–3 win over the Whitby Wildcats. It was a very fast paced fiscal game with Whitby scoring the first goal on a power play early in the 2nd period. The Lakers came right back in the next shift with Ted Nichol scoring on a rebound shot from Kenny Huether with an assist going to Evan Chaffe. Two minutes later, Ted Nichol set up Kenny Huether as he scored with a great low shot. Whitby scored in the final minute of the 2nd to tie the score at 2 apiece and then came out flying in the 3rd period forcing Lakers goalie Owen Chapman to make some key saves. The Lakers slowed down the Whitby attack when Cullen Mercer walked out of the corner to score with an assist going to Blake Nichol putting the Lakers up by one. Whitby kept pressuring and finally scored to tie the game at 3. As the referee tried to determine the outcome of the game by giving the Lakers a penalty with 3 minutes remaining in the game, Josh Higgins broke-up the power play attack in the Lakers' end and went 2 on 1 with teammate Blake Nichol, Josh gave Blake a great pass and as Blake was going around the Whitby defence he ended up on his knees where he scored the winning goal for the Lakers. Nathan Smith won a key face-off late in the game in the Lakers' end while Carson Brookshaw made a great shot block in the last 30 seconds of the game to help the Lakers pull off the 4–3 win. All six defenseman (Eric MacPhee, Brady Lauze, Tristan Connolly, Haydn Favacho, Mykal Hodges and Zack Jacobs) played a very strong game. Whitby went back into their pool and went 3–0 and advanced to the semi-finals. Carson Brookshaw was the Lakers MVP of the game.
As the Lakers entered back into their pool, they played the Soo Jr. Greyhounds in game # 2. The Lakers seem to start slow, but seem to be right into the game by mid point of the 1st period. The Soo goalie made some great saves and was holding the Soo team in the game and at the 6:00 minute mark of the 2nd period the Soo scored to go up 1–0. Six seconds later, Evan Chaffe picked up a loose puck off the center ice face-off and went in on the Soo goalie all alone beating him high on the blocker side to tie the game. Ben Larder was playing a strong game, but the Soo managed to get the puck past him late in the 2nd period to go up 2–1. Early in the 3rd period the Lakers were having trouble moving the puck out off their end as the Soo seemed to get stronger every shift. This seemed to be a wake up call for the Lakers to step it up in their own end and Ted Nichol did just that as he won a one on one battle deep in the Lakers end, fed a pass to Evan Chaffe on the half boards where Chaffe gave a quick pass to fast breaking Kenny Huether. As Huether had no other choice than to go on the attack by himself as Chaffe and Nichol went for a line change, Huether put on a stick handling clinic going through three Soo players and then scoring on the Soo goalie tying the game at 2–2. The Lakers thought they had the game wrapped up as Blake Nichol cycled the puck down low to Jamie Huber where he found Haydn Favacho in the high slot, Favacho made no mistake and scored on the short side giving the Lakers the go ahead goal with seven minutes remain in the game. Soo took a time out with two minutes left in the game and planned one last attack. As the Lakers were pressing in the Soo end, the Soo team caught a break and broke out on a two on one, as the Soo player tried to pass to his teammate breaking to the Lakers' net the puck took a wild bounce off the Lakers defence and redirected the puck on net beating the Lakers goalie and tying the game 3–3 for the final. Kenny Huether was the Lakers MVP of the game.
Game # 3 against South Central Coyotes was a must win game to stay in the hunt to be able to move on to the semi-finals. The game started out quick with both teams having good scoring chances, but the Coyotes opened the scoring mid way through the 1st period. The Lakers came right back two minutes later as Ted Nichol forced a turnover behind the Coyotes' net and Kenny Huether fed a pass to Carson Brookshaw in front, where he fired a quick shot passed the Coyotes' goalie tying the game at 1 apiece. The quick play continued in the 2nd period with the Lakers' goalie Owen Chapman making some key saves to keep the Lakers in the game. As both teams were making changes on the fly the Lakers got the break they were looking for as Zack Jacobs grabbed the loose puck and set up Kenny Huether where he found Jamie Huber down low and Huber scored on a bad angle shot. The Coyotes stepped up their game as they scored the next 2 goals putting them up by one, but the Lakers didn’t quit as Huber scored his 2nd of the game from Cullen Mercer and Blake Nichol. In the last minute of the game with the score tied at 3 apiece both teams took time outs as a tie was no good for either team. Once the play started again and the puck went down low into the Lakers end the Coyotes pulled their goalie and went with six skaters and just when the game looked like it was going to finish in a tie Ted Nichol blocked a shot creating a turnover, Cullen Mercer, Jamie Huber and Blake Nichol all seem to touch the puck within a second with the end result Blake Nichol scoring with a ½ second left on the clock, giving the Lakers the 4–3 win. Blake Nichol was the Lakers MVP of the game.
As game # 4 started with London Gold both teams had a chance to go to the semi-finals with a win as long the Soo Jr. Greyhound team lost or tied South Central Coyotes. The game plan was to win and hope we would get some help from the Coyotes. With the London Gold team being one of the strongest teams in Ontario the Lakers adjusted their forechecking style. Ben Larder made some great saves in the early going of the game for the Lakers and then for some reason the referee thought the game was all about him and called one penalty after another on both teams killing the flow of the game, it was so bad the London coach apologized to us between periods. London jumped out to a 1–0 lead before the Lakers were able to get on the board, but finally Ted Nichol had a good shot on net with Evan Chaffe grabbing the rebound, but the London goalie stopped both of them and finally on the 2nd rebound Kenny Huether scored to tie the game at 1 apiece. With the referee still calling penalties the Lakers couldn’t seem to get anything going. London added 2 more goals to go on to win the game 3–1. Tristan Connolly was the Lakers MVP of the game.
Overall the coaching staff is very pleased with the way the team is progressing, as this tournament always determines what we need to work on as a team and individuals. The best thing with this team is that the skill level has the potential to be very high, we just need bring it out every practice and game and to work on it as a team.