The Major PeeWees Huron Perth Lakers captured the AAA Nations Cup in Lansing Michigan this past weekend in spectacular fashion by defeating Chicago 1-0 via shootout in the first place championship game; also helping Canada win the Nations Cup. Ironically, the game was decided by 2 unrelated team members with the same family name.
In the fourth round of shootout Tyson Hall scored the eventual winner while goalie Zach Hall sealed the victory by stopping the Chicago shooter. The Lakers were the first place seed after round robin play in the Canadian pool of teams. All Canadian teams only played USA teams. The Lakers started off the tournament by besting Pittsburgh Stealth 4-1 and then defeating Cleveland Barons 3-2. In an entertaining game against Compuware, the Lakers stormed out front 2-0, only to see that lead disappear in a 5 minute span before coming back and snatching victory 4-3. In their last round robin game, the Lakers were defeating Orchard Lake Reds 3-2 with about 3 minutes to go before the ref located his whistle after many obvious infractions were ignored. To add insult to injury, a penalty shot while short handed. The opponent scored on the penalty shot and added the winner with seconds to go on the power play and added an empty net goal with less than a second to play. It was a tough lesson to learn, but sometimes the calls do not go your way. This was the only blemish on what would have been a perfect weekend. The boys bounced back on the last day in the championship game versus the US first place opponent Chicago Fury; the game ending 0-0 before being decided via shootout. Laker goal scorers included Tyson Koopman, Eric Vander Eyk, Joshua Zelek, Reid Campbell and Kyle Stanbury. Other Lakers getting points included: Rhys Britton, Maxim Mulder, Griffin MacDonald and Jake Weston. Strong efforts by forwards Braeden Burdett, Joel Denotter and Parker Miller helped the Lakers gain control of the battles numerous times. Strong defensive efforts from Shawn Barnett and Connor Otto helped the goalies Hall and Owen Hahn defend against the opposition. The Lakers came home with a record of 4-1, a championship banner as well as championship medals for the entire team and memories that will last a lifetime. Congratulations Lakers.