After defeating London Green 6-0 Sunday afternoon, Chris Stewart's Minor Midgets continue to sit at the top of the league standings.
Prior to Sunday's game, the Lakers were 7 points ahead of London Gold who have four games at hand. The Huron-Perth squad also has a nice streak going, winning the last 7 league games in a row and not suffering a loss in the last 10. This ties the team with the Jr. Sting for the Longest Winning Streak of the season!
London Green
Ray Huether had a big game against the Green Sunday, scoring 4 goals. David Sproat and Shawn Moore each had one goal. Scott Coghlin recorded three assists and Jeff McArdle made his first appearance on the score sheet with an 'apple'. According to PointStreak, prior to Sunday's game, Shawn Moore, Ty Bilcke, Ray Huether and Brandon Priestap are tied for the league lead for Most Points in a Game with 5. Brady Wiffen (now tied with Huether) has the Most Goals in a Game with 4. Priestap, Moore, and Bilcke are tied for Most Assists in a Game with 4, and Goalie Cian Patterson-March has the second longest Goalie Win Streak with 6!
Kitchener Jr. Rangers
This past Saturday in Stratford the Wiffen line came out flying against Kitchener. Digging in and around the crease Ty Bilcke was able to move the puck to Ryan Watson off the left post. In Gretzky-esque fashion, Watson spotted Brady Wiffen standing back from the crowd and somehow sent the puck to him through a forest of legs....1-0 at 1:07. With goalie Cian Patterson-March down and out of position after making the initial saves, the Rangers nearly tied it but luck was on #1's side when the puck stayed out of the half empty net. There were a few scrambles this game when Kitchener looked set to score but Patterson-March continued to find ways to keep the puck on his side of the goal line. A speedy Shawn Moore set up the 2-0 goal by crossing the blue line and dropping the puck to Brandon Priestap who bulged the lower left side of the net. With less than a minute left in the first period there was a face-off to the right of the Kitchener goalie. As centre man Jerry Ennett Drew it back to Jake Ringuette at the left point, Scott Coghlin was positioning himself at the right side. Coghlin received the puck, moved in a bit and blasted one top shelf - where Grandpa keeps the good stuff! On a third period power play, Ringuette took possession at the point from Shawn Moore. This time Ringuette elected to shoot. The big slap shot was too hot to handle and Ray Huether was happy to jump on the 4-0 rebound. Huether would also score the team's final goal, picking up David Sproat's bank pass and holding off two defensemen long enough to snap the puck into the top right corner from close range. Final score 5-0. Congrats
Cambridge Hawks
On Wednesday night in Goderich, there was an unfamiliar player standing on the Laker blue line. To the relief of the other four rearguards, Jeff McArdle is back from the injured list. He played quite a few shifts and didn't look a bit out of place, relying on his smarts until conditioning and game readiness catch up. Goalie Drew Reinhardt could've spent the first shift standing on the bench. Jake Ringuette was doing a great job in front of the net crouching to block two shots from close in. Liam Maaskant got the offense going, smoothly carrying the puck out of his own end on two occasions before head manning the puck to his forwards. Jerry Ennett just missed opening the scoring after receiving a nice pass from David Sproat on a 2 on 1. Shawn Moore created an equally good opportunity for himself, hanging back in the slot to receive a drop pass from Ray Huether who'd just rocketed around the right defenseman.
Early in the second period Huether took control in the Hawks' left corner. After faking a drop pass to elude a pursuing defender, the right shooting sniper brought the puck to the hash marks. The scorekeeper was reaching for his pen as Huether unleashed the wrister inside the left post. Cambridge tied it up 1-1 two minutes later with a fluky bounce off a Laker defender. Reinhardt responded to that mishap moments later with a big glove save. On the power play midway through the second period, Jake Ringuette had control of the puck outside the Cambridge blueline. One short pass later and Ray Huether was closing in on net to set up the backhand deke.....2-1! Toward the end of the second period Cambridge had a glorious opportunity to tie it up on a clear-cut breakaway. Reinhardt stood his ground though, and calmly put the blocker out to turn the shot aside. On a penalty kill, Ryan Watson found the puck on his stick in scoring position but elected to send the puck to Scott Coghlin charging in from the right. Coghlin was in position for the tap in but well tied up by a Hawk defender.
The Lakers started the third period down 5 men to 3 for 1:30 but as usual the Laker penalty killing units prevailed. With time running out and the Cambridge net empty, David Sproat was heading up ice. Rather than risk the long shot, Sproat wisely went for a sure thing, sending a pass to Jerry Ennett who streaked in for a gimme. That 3-1 lead should've ended it but Cambridge are a pesky crew. They drew within one goal with their 29th shot, giving the Lakers' faithful 32 more stressful seconds until the buzzer sounded. Final score 3-2.
Lambton Jr. Sting
Five minutes into last Saturday's game, Ty Bilcke's aggressive forechecking caused a turnover deep in Lambton's end leading to a 1-0 goal by Brady Wiffen. Later in the period, this line's fore checking nearly made it 2-0 but Wiffen hit the post. Scott Coghlin and Jesse DeGroote contributed big defensive plays in the first period; Coghlin standing his man up on a 1 on 1 and DeGroote paying a small but painful price after lying down to block a slapshot. With a power play just ended, but the offending player not yet back in the play, Shawn Moore made it 2-0 with help from line mates Brandon Priestap and Ray Huether. Priestap made it 3-0 in the second, surprising the Sting goalie by stealing the puck close in and snapping a quick shot behind him.
Article by: Paul Sproat