The Huron Perth Lakers Minor Midgets travelled to Brantford Nov. 12-13 to play in the 12th Annual Boston Pizza Cup Minor Midget Showcase.
Wheatfield Blades
The Lakers opened the tourney with a Friday morning match vs. the Wheatfield Blades. The line of
Jayden Landry,
Nick Castell and
Jared Zufelt converted a nice three way passing play to open the scoring at 12:36 of the 1st period. Penalties would start to hurt the Lakers and the Blades quickly scored back to back power play goals to go ahead 2-1.
Landry tied the score with 1:20 remaining in the 1st on a tip in from
Ben Kirwin.
The 2nd period saw both teams get good practice on special teams play. No goals were scored by either team and the Lakers killed six penalties and the period ended tied at two. In the 3rd ,
Iain Donnelly would change that with a sweet toe drag and deke goal at 7:32. Unfortunately, the Blades would tie two minutes later on the power play.
With time winding down and the game looking to end in a tie,
Donnelly capitalized on a rebound from a
Brett Stacey shot to put the Lakers ahead 4-3. The Blades pressed hard in the final minute but goalie
Ben Errington made some spectacular saves to preserve the win.
Central Ontario Wolves
Next up for the Lakers were the Central Ontario Wolves.
Michael Siddall wasted no time opening the scoring on his first shift from a clever
Riley McCabe pass. The first period was fast paced and filled with hard hitting action. The Wolves scored a late 1st period goal to end the 1st tied at one.
The Lakers went ahead at 11:58 of the 2nd when a pinching
Ben Kirwin stole the puck off the half boards and continued to the net for a nice unassisted marker. The Lakers would make it 3-1 on a power play tally by
Jayden Landry assisted by
Iain Donnelly and
Mac MacSorley. Before the 2nd period would end,
Siddall notched his second of the game from a nice
MacSorley set up.
The third period wasn’t kind to the Lakers. Central Ontario started pressing hard and undisciplined penalties resulted in a momentum loss. The Wolves scored early in the 3rd and then with 4:34 to go. The Lakers finally woke up at period end and nearly scored to break the tie. Lesson learned and a decent start to day one of the tourney with one win and a tie.
Joe Metzger was solid in goal stopping 21 shots.
Cambridge Hawks
The third game featured the Cambridge Hawks, our Alliance division rival. The winner of this game would clinch the division and move on to semi-final action. Cambridge is a big, physical team and they wasted little time playing their dump and chase game. Cambridge opened the scoring at 7:28 of the 1st. The Lakers would respond on the power play with a
Braydon Blight point shot. Assists to
Iain Donnelly and
Jayden Landry. Cambridge would add two more 2nd period goals before
Michael Siddall banged home a rebound from
Riley McCabe and
Ben Kirwin on the power play. Unfortunately, a defensive zone giveaway resulted in a late 4th second period tally to end the period 4-2 in favour of the Hawks.
In the third period, despite a valiant effort, the Lakers were unable to muster much offence in the small Gretzky Blue rink. Cambridge tallied two more goals to finish the game 6-2 and seal the division win.
Overall, the tourney had a number of positive moments. Above average goaltending from
Ben Errington and
Joe Metzger allowed the Lakers to be in each game. The power play unit started to click and the Laker defensive zone coverage was solid in each game.
Next tourney action for the Minor Midgets is the Gold Puck in Waterloo from December 10-12.
submitted by Mich Landry