After a hard fought battle with London Jr. Knights in St. Marys, October 31, our Minor PeeWee Lakers experienced their first loss in 9 consecutive games. With plenty of opportunities to win, the puck failed to find the back of the London net minder. After 45 minutes of play... only one goal separated the 99 Lakers from stealing a point from the first place team in the Alliance league. Regardless of the score it was noted by all in attendance that the Alliance Hockey landscape at the 1999 age group was in the midst of change and our 99 Lakers are a big part of that change.
Chicago Nike Bauer Tournament
Early Thursday morning of November 4th, the Lakers boarded one of Cherry Bus Lines Luxury 54 Passenger Buses and embarked on a hockey journey fit only for the fittest of athletes and fans. After 12 hours of sunshine, shopping trips, interesting chicken dinners, ice storms, rainstorms and Chicago rush hour traffic we finally arrived at our hotel.
Game #1
The Lakers found themselves up against NHL’s Scott Niedermayer’s LA Hockey Club. Facing the unknown, our boys played their game that had served them so well over the past few months and were rewarded with a 4-1 win.
Game #2
Later that day... not to be outdone our second game was against the Atlanta Fire coached by MLB's MVP Tommy Glavin. The Atlanta Fire was no match for our Laker boys who extinguished the flames with 11 unanswered goals. Lakers finish up the first day of tournament with two convincing wins and plenty of smiles after an eventful day of hockey.
Game #3
Early the next day and after a good night’s rest the Lakers changed venues and set their sights on the Holland Ice Dogs from Michigan. Starting off where they left the last game the Lakers continued their scoring way with 9 more goals putting the Michigan Dogs back on ice with a 9-1 win.
Game #4
Saturday afternoon the Lakers were matched up against the New Jersey Avalanche. The Avalanche are a solid team with great skills and they kept our players from deviating from their game plan. Again the Lakers found themselves on the Win column with a 5-3 score in our favour.
Game #5
Late Sunday morning hockey action had the Lakers looking for some stored energy. With New York’s Suffolk Pal headlining game #5 (which by the way was set up as 2-15 minute periods) there was a convincing feeling amongst the team coaching staff that things were going tighten up and the boys were going to have to bring more grit to the game. In the tightest match of the tournament, Suffolk took it to the boys early only 42 seconds into the game. But our boys responded back exactly 5 minutes later to tie it up. Again, early in the second, Stuffolk scored putting our lakers in a familiar spot but they did not pack it in. They worked hard every shift until late in the second period with 1:10 on the clock the hockey Gods saw fit to reward the boys with a goal . The game was tied at 2 forcing 4 on 4 OT. Continuing with the passion and determination to win the Lakers put the game to rest with less than 27 seconds left in the first OT session to win by sudden death and advancing the team to the semis.
Game #6
After a heroic OT win the Laker 99 boys had little time to prepare for yet another tough match against the Chicago Young Americans. Again, the Lakers were faced with a hard hockey battle from start to finish. The Lakers scored early in the first but fell behind by one late that same period. With the score locked at 2-1 the Lakers held ground and pressed the US team every shift. With less than 3 minutes left in the second period the Lakers hard work paid off and tied the game up at 2. With both teams playing solid two way hockey no goals were scored in the 3rd paving way for yet another OT thriller. As the Coaches tapped the fuel guage of each player we knew we were running low on fuel and were asking more out of our Laker boys than any game previous in the tournament. We were not disappointed. They held up and delivered two great OT periods but eventually came up short on the 3 on 3 with 2 and half minutes left. A tough 3-2 loss had the boys, parents and fans back on the bus heading home with the heads held high and a real sense of accomplishment.
The 99 Lakers Minor PeeWee team and their families wish to extend a special thanks to Darryl Ceiger of Cherry Bus Lines for his great job behind the wheel to and from Chicago. Thanks for keeping our team safe and on time all weekend!