The Major Atom Lakers came up short in their preliminary playdown series against the Brantford 99ers, losing the series 6-4 in points. Two games were tied and the other 3 games were all decided by a single goal, it could not get any closer. The Lakers now play the Kitchener Rangers in the next playoff series starting Sunday Feb. 19, 2012.
The 1st game of the series in St. Mary’s on Feb. 4, 12 saw the Lakers race out to 2 leads 2-0 & 4-2 that they could not hold, with the game ending in a 4-4 tie. The Lakers were able to kill a questionable penalty in the overtime period to preserve the tie. The 1st goal was scored by Ethan Roche from Sam Dupuis. The 2nd goal was scored by Reid Campbell from Braeden Burdett and Zach Dow. The 3rd goal was scored by Kyle Stanbury & the 4th goal was scored by Burdett. The Lakers preserved the tie in the overtime by killing a penalty.
The 2nd game of the series was in Brantford on Feb. 5, 12 and ended with the Lakers edging the 99ers 3-2. All 3 goals for the Lakers were scored by Carter McLlwain, the last one on a penalty shot after a 99er player had gloved the puck in the crease. 2 of the goals were assisted by Joshua Zelek and Tanner Reid also picked up an assist on the 2nd goal.
The 3rd game of the series was in Milverton on Feb. 9, 12 and ended in a 6-6 tie. It was a wild game, with the Lakers battling back 3 times from 2 goal deficits (3-1, 4-2, 5-3) to take the lead 6-5 with minutes to go only to see the 99ers tie the game with 15 seconds left on the clock. Zelek led the way with a hat-trick with Stanbury chipping in a couple of goals and 4 assists and Burdett assisting with 4 helpers. Roche also had a goal and Campbell and Jake Weston also picking up a single helper. The officiating seemed to favour the Lakers with all the penalties going to the 99ers and the Lakers capitalizing with 4 powerplay markers. The one play that did not go the Lakers way was the tying goal which was clearly offside.
The 4th game was back in Brantford on Feb. 11, 12 and the Lakers fell short, losing 4-3. The Lakers opened the scoring with a nice tic-tac-toe passing from Reid to Zelek to McLlwain who buried it past the goalie. The 99ers tied it a minute later. Burdett’s wrist shot from the top of the circle (assist going to Maxim Mulder) fooled the 99er goalie however the 99ers tied it again another minute later. 2 quick goals by the 99ers in the middle of the 3rd all but put the game away. However, Zelek’s goal (from Burdett and Stanbury) with a minute left breathed life into the Lakers but they could not put the puck past the 99er goalie again.
The 5th game was back in Goderich on Feb. 5, 12 and the Lakers fell short again, losing 3-2. Stanbury knotted the game at 1-1 and also at 2-2 (assists going to Campbell & Zelek) but the 99ers always responded with another goal about a minute later to break the tie, a recurring theme the past 2 days. The Lakers pulled the goalie with 2 minutes to go and came close to tying the game, the best chance coming with 10 seconds left, with the puck just grazing the post but it was not to be.
The Lakers fought valiantly but the bounces did not go their way and they ended up on the short end. The Lakers are relegated from the Playdowns to the Playoff round and their next opponent are the Kitchener Rangers with the quarter-final playoff series commencing Feb. 20, 2012. Go Lakers!