How sweep it is! The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers knocked the Brooklin Lacrosse Club out of the MSL playoffs on Thursday night, winning game four 13-9 and the series 4-0.
It’s the second consecutive year the Lakers have swept Brooklin in the semifinals, and the fourth consecutive year (minus the two-year pandemic absence) the Lakers will meet the Six Nations Chiefs in the finals.
Taite Cattoni returned from injury to lead the Lakers’ left offensive side. He had a goal and two assists in his return.
“They thought it was their year but it was great to four-bang them for the second straight year,” he said, acknowledging that “they are a hard working team.”
Cattoni cut to the middle to receive a pass from Nate Sage and put the ball over Zach Higgins’ left shoulder to make it 11-8 in the third period. He followed the goal with a leap into the boards to celebrate.
Sage and fellow Jr. A callup Colby Wood helped round a shorthanded left side. Wood, playing in his second game for the senior club, scored his first goal in the second period, shooting low on Higgins.
Defender Dylan Hutchison said their efforts didn’t go unnoticed.
“There were a lot of guys that were out there grinding,” he said. “We had a young left side out there on offence and they were all out there. Colby, Nate and Adam (Thistlethwaite) were all doing a good job and then Taite was kind of the vocal guy, handling the ball a little more. What they were able to do was great for us and definitely helped the outcome.”
The right side of the offence contributed seven of the team’s 13 goals, while three others came from transition runs Colton Armstrong, Matt Gilray, and Joey Cupido, who iced the game with an empty netter.
Doug Buchan made 30 saves in 40 minutes of action, and Landon Kells stopped 17 shots in the third, with Buchan feeling out of sorts.
The Lakers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead just 1:43 into the game. Brooklin kept it close, trailing by 2 after the first and only a single marker after the second period, before the Lakers were able to pull away. It was just as intense of a game as the previous three, although a lot more disciplined, with only five penalties total called in the game.
Rob Hellyer had a hat trick and Austin Hasen two great goals. Joe Resetarits scored once and helped out on five other goals.
Dawson Theede and Sean Westley led Brooklin with three goals each; Westley added two assists. Reilly O’Connor contributed a pair of goals and two assists. Zach Higgins made 37 saves.
The MSL Finals are expected to begin Tuesday in Six Nations, with game two set for Thursday, August 15 at the Memorial Centre. Stay tuned for the rest of the schedule!
SCORING FOR THE LAKERS:
Rob Hellyer (3-1)
Austin Hasen (2-0)
Joe Resetarits (1-5)
Thomas Hoggarth (1-3)
Taite Cattoni (1-2)
Colton Armstrong (1-1)
Colby Wood (1-1)
Joey Cupido (1-1)
Adam Thistlethwaite (1-0)
Matt Gilray (1-0)
Jake Withers (0-1)
Nate Sage (0-1)
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