Sickness is making its way through most hockey teams right now and the Minor Peewees were no exception this past weekend. With 3 players out and a few playing at less than 100%, the Lakers played a seesaw match with the Cambridge Hawks on Saturday.
The Hawks would get the only goal in the first period when one of their forwards was allowed to waltz right in on goaltender
Wyatt Nicholson and bury his own rebound. The Lakers would draw even midway through the 2nd period on a gritty effort by
Jared Nash. Defenseman,
Jacob Hrudka, would move the puck to Nash in the neutral zone who would then go wide on the Hawks' defender and take a shot managing to get his own rebound and back hand it upstairs. Just 3 minutes into the 3rd, Cambridge once again take the lead on an individual effort by one of their handy forwards.
At about the 9 minute mark, Nash would get his 2
nd of the game when he would not give up on a broken play and somehow sweep the puck by the Hawks' goalie. Assists went to
Brent West and
Jon Baker. Two minutes later the Lakers had multiple chances to clear the puck out of their zone but failed to do so and the Hawks again took the lead at the 6 minute mark.
With 2.5 minutes to play Hrudka held the puck in at the blue line, feeding it to call up, Shaun Pickering who managed to get to the net getting a good shot away. The Hawks' goaltender made a good save but could not recover in time as
Chayse Herrfort backhanded the rebound top shelf to once again tie the game. With 18 seconds remaining in the game, the Lakers would take a penalty in their own zone. Remarkably, they would not only get the puck clear of the zone on the ensuing face off but would create a scoring chance when Herrfort would jump on a Nash rebound but would get robbed on his backhand on a very timely save by the Hawks' goaltender 3 seconds before the buzzer. Final score, Lakers 3 - Cambridge 3.
On Sunday, the Lakers hosted the Brantford 99ers in a very physical match. With the 99ers taking the body at every opportunity the Lakers coaches encouraged their players to keep their feet moving and to finish some of their own checks. The Lakers would score first when
Jacob Hrudka would deflect a
MacKinnon Hawkins' shot from the point with
Grant McPherson also assisting. McPherson would then gain the zone and deliver a sweet pass to call up, Jake Finlayson, right in front for the tap in. Finlayson would get an identical goal 4 minutes later when
Brent West would send a nice pass from the corner to the front of the net and Finlayson would just have to tap it in. A great reinforcement for having your stick on the ice when driving to the net!
Hrudka would then get his 2
nd of the game when he sent a high shot over the Brantford goalie’s shoulder on a screened shot.
Jared Nash would also score before the end of the 2nd period on a pass from
Jon Baker.
Justin MacCarter,
Nicole Zabel, McPherson and
Chayse Herrfort seemed to send Brantford the message that they would not back down from physical play as they each delivered some very heavy hits. Heading into the dressing room for the 2
nd intermission the Lakers had a controlling lead at 5-0.
Five minutes into the 3rd, a miscue by the Lakers defense would rob
Tristan Lewis of his shutout bid when a Brantford player would get an uncontested shot away beating Lewis on the short side. The Lakers would respond however on a nice goal by Nash when he beat a defenseman wide with good speed and deked the 99er goaltender. Hawkins started the play with a chip off the boards to Hrudka in the neutral zone who in turn fed a nice lead pass to Nash. Final score, 6-1 Lakers.
The Lakers now gear up for the Nike Bauer Invitational tournament in Chicago this coming weekend. Good luck Lakers!