Call it a successful week for the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers after they picked up back-to-back wins this week. Wednesday night the Lakers beat the Brooklin Lacrosse Club at Irqouois Park Sports Centre, and then they returned home to the Memorial Centre to beat the Cobourg Kodiaks 15-7.
“The vibes are high,” said Landon Kells, who got the win Wednesday, making 33 saves including a stretch of 30+ minutes of scoreless lacrosse. Doug Buchan got the win Thursday, making 44 saves.
“The guys knew we definitely needed that one and it was one of the more complete games we played all year,” Kells said. “We let our foot off the gas at the start of the third but we battled back and shut them down when we needed to.”
Wednesday’s game was tied 2-2 after the first, and the Lakers led 6-2 after the second. They ran into some penalty trouble in the third which allowed Brooklin back into the game. Carter Page’s second goal of the game was the game winner. He picked up Owen Hiltz’s behind-the-back attempt and tucked in the rebound.
Page, and a host of other young players, did yeoman’s work for the Lakers this week with a number of regulars missing – nine on Thursday night.
Koleton Marquis led the effort against Cobourg, scoring three times and adding six assists for nine points. Hiltz added a pair of goals and five assists. Thomas Hoggarth, who missed Wednesday’s game due to illness, came back to score another hat trick, including another goal of the year candidate, a fluid behind-the-back marker.
After being shut out on the power play Wednesday, the Lakers went 6/7 Thursday with Cobourg taking undisciplined penalties late in the second period and throughout the third. The last six goals the Lakers scored were on the man advantage.
“We worked hard. They worked really hard. It was a really good start and the energy that they had carried throughout the entire game,” said head coach Mike Hasen. “As TK likes to say, energy is contagious and it was tonight for us.”
The Lakers ran a class on discipline Thursday after seeing their lead slip away late on Wednesday after emotions boiled over.
Dustyn Birkhoff cross checked Owen Hiltz high in the back of the head with 8:05 left to play Thursday, but the Lakers stayed calm and drew a five minute power lay instead of negating a power play by retaliating.
“We’re the Lakeshow. We put on a show,” said Armstrong. “We don’t go out and fight, we put the ball in the net. The crowd was behind us and when they did some stupid stuff the crowd would get up and get mad at them, so we used that momentum and put the ball in the net instead of sitting there trying to slash or fight.”
In addition to Page, seeing extra playing time this week were defencemen Adam Thistlethwaite, Holden Lowes and Andrew Vradenburg.
With the Jr. A and Jr. C Lakers, as well as Ennismore Sr. B, all in action Thursday, the Lakers called up Brayden Hickey from Clearview Sr. B to help fill out the roster, and he had a goal in his debut, picking up his own rebound to beat Jackson Brown in Cobourg’s goal.
Thursday was a reunion of sorts – all three coaches on the Kodiaks’ bench are former Lakers: Brandon Francis, Darryl Gibson and Kyle Laverty. Zach Thompson and Nick Webb are a Jr. A Lakers graduate, and Dustyn Birkhoff is a Peterborough native. On the Peterborough side, Cam Milligan, Colton Armstrong, Dylan Hutchison and Joey Cupido are all former Kodiaks.
Gibson and Lakers’ assistant coach Bobby Keast are coaching Team Jamaica at the upcoming World Box Lacrosse Championships in September.
Only two games remain in the Lakers’ regular season. They are on the road Tuesday to play the undefeated Six Nations Chiefs before finishing at home on Thursday against the Brampton Excelsiors. Tickets for Thursday’s game are on sale at the Memorial Centre.
SCORING FOR THE LAKERS:
Wednesday
Carter Page (2-1)
Turner Evans (2-0)
Joe Resetarits (1-2)
Owen Hiltz (1-1)
Joey Cupido (1-0)
Taite Cattoni (0-2)
Jake Withers (0-1)
Holden Lowes (0-1)
Robert Hope (0-1)
Holden Cattoni (0-1)
Thursday
Koleton Marquis (3-6)
Thomas Hoggarth (3-0)
Owen Hiltz (2-5)
Colton Armstrong (2-0)
Cam Milligan (1-3)
Braydon Hickey (1-3)
Carter Page (1-2)
Jake Withers (1-1)
Taite Cattoni (1-1)
Andrew Vradenburg (0-1)
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