The Huron Perth Lakers Major Atom team, probably playing their best hockey so far this season, burst out on a southern Ontario road trip, taking both games this past weekend from the Sun County Panthers and the Windsor Spitfires. On Saturday Dec. 10, 2011, the Lakers built a 4-0 lead by the early third and held on for a 4-3 victory over the Panthers. On Sunday Dec. 11, 2011, the Lakers had a 3-0 lead going into the third and had no let down, finishing & shutting out the Spitfires 3-0.
In Essex, the Lakers and the Panthers battled to a scoreless draw after the 1st. Midway through the 2nd, Joshua Zelek moved the puck out of his zone feeding it to Tanner Reid at centre ice, who walked in and snuck the puck by the Panther goalie. Shortly after, on a powerplay, Kyle Stanbury buried the puck after being fed the puck from Zelek and Braeden Burdett. A couple of minutes later, Burdett picked off the top corner from the top of the circle after some nice passing from Zach Dow and Maxim Mulder. Eight seconds into the third, right off the faceoff, Zelek took advantage of the Panther defenseman blowing a tire, stealing the puck and snapping a goal off the post past the surprised Panther goalie. The Lakers deviated from their game plan and gave up some odd man breaks that proved to be costly and the game was now 4-3 with 4 minutes to go. The Lakers regrouped and held off the fierce Panther attack. Goalie Owen Hahn had a strong game in the pipes, holding off the Panthers enough to preserve the win, especially when the rest of the team snoozed during the 10 minute 3rd period lapse. This was an excellent start to the weekend but there were lessons learned from the 10 minute letdown in the third.
In Windsor, the Lakers were in awe when they arrived and realized that they were going to play in the Windsor WFCU Bowl arena, home to the OHL Windsor Spitfires and all its 6900 seats. In the first period, while shorthanded, Zelek moved the puck from the defensive zone, off the boards to Stanbury at the Laker blueline, who skated the rest of the way, undressing the goalie to start out the scoring. Later in the 1st, Reid fed Mulder at the point, who let a high slapshot go that appeared to bounce in midair, probably off of a defender, over the confused Spitfire goalie’s glove. Midway in the second period, Sam Dupuis took a high alley hoop pass at centre ice from Ethan Roche (who was fed the puck by Zelek) walked in alone and made no mistake in snapping in the goal to open up a 3-0 lead. Defenseman Shaun Barnett and Jake Weston were awesome in defending while being shorthanded 2 men late in the third to seal the Spitfire’s fate. The Lakers did not let down in the 3rd as they did the day before, playing strong 2 way hockey to preserve the shutout for defiant goalie Bobby McLachlan.
The Lakers played almost 5 1/3 periods of excellent hockey over the course of the 2 games. They deserved to win both games and were awarded full merits for their efforts. All players contributed this weekend helping to gel the team’s spirit. The Lakers have 3 league games this upcoming weekend before the Christmas break. The boys appear to be getting stronger every weekend which only helps to build the team’s confidence. Best of luck in this weekend’s games. Go Lakers !!!