Lakers sweep Brooklin in semi-finals
Will face Chiefs in MSL Final
It was a sweep night in Whitby for the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers on Tuesday.
The Lakers defeated the Brooklin Lacrosse Club 12-11 in overtime to win their best-of-seven Major Series Lacrosse semi-final 4-1, sweeping their Highway 115 rivals out of the playoffs. The Lakers will play the Six Nations Chiefs in the MSL after the Chiefs beat the Cobourg Kodiaks 4-1.
This marks the eighth consecutive appearance in the MSL Final for the Lakers and will be their 18th trip to the final in 19 seasons. The only year they missed the Final was in 2013 when they were upset by Brooklin.
Holden Cattoni’s fourth goal of the game, with 2:30 left in the 10-minute sudden death overtime period, ended the back-and-forth affair.
“It was one of those games where, deservedly so, it came down to the last shot for the win,” said head coach Mike Hasen.
The Lakers trailed 5-1 early in the second after a difficult opening period in which Brooklin looked to be in total control.
“They woke us up and reminded us that we have to play for an entire game and not just expect to lead,” Hasen said. “Credit to them, they showed us the way in the first period and we responded really well.”
Transition goals from Matt Gilray and Colton Armstrong kicked off the Lakers’ comeback.
Kyle Waters got one back for Brooklin but that spurred a five-goal run from the Lakers in response, and they took an 8-6 lead. Tanner Cook’s third and Waters’ second tied the game at eight. Eli McLaughlin’s second of the game on a sidearm quick-stick put Peterborough up 9-8 heading into the third.
Cook and McLaughlin traded goals to open the third. Liam Osborne tied the game at 10. The Lakers hoped Josh Currier’s low backhand tally with 8:03 left would be the go-ahead goal, but Jake Stevens tied the game with 4:57 left.
Goaltender Drew Hutchison made five solid saves in overtime, squaring himself to every shot as the action went from end to end.
Hutchison earned praise from both the Lakers’ offence and the defence for his efforts.
“He saved us a couple of times with a couple of big breakaway stops,” said defender Mitch Ogilvie. “He had a couple one-on-one looks on the outside and he came up big.”
Cattoni said timely saves have been a theme this season.
“When we need a save, we’ve been getting it, so hopefully that continues because that’s a huge key for us.”
Cattoni flipped Currier’s cross-crease pass over Riley Hutchcraft’s right shoulder to end the game.
“I set a little bit of a pick, got a little bit of a gap, and the ball got swung a couple times so it was tough for their goalie to get back in time,” Cattoni described.
Cattoni added two assists to his four goals. McLaughlin finished with three goals and three assists. Taite Cattoni, Josh Currier and Matt Gilray all scored once and added two assists while Thomas Hoggarth had a goal and an assist and Colton Armstrong one goal. Cam Milligan had two assists and Jordan Stouros and Turner Evans one each.
MECHANICS ON CALL: Mitch Ogilvie, Jordan Stouros and Thomas Hoggarth were forced to change a tire in a busy intersection just off the Brock Street exit after their tire went flat.
"I’ll blame Jordan Stouros for that one," Ogilvie laughed. "We turned off at the exit and Jordan had actually rolled down his window and heard the air coming out and he said 'is there a balloon letting go of its air?' Next thing you know we had a flat tire in the middle of the intersection. Luckily we had three mechanics out there to fix it."
Ogilvie said the repair took about 10 minutes with all three players helping.
"We got it done. One guy under the wheel, one guy under the car and one guy jacking it up. We’re gonna try out for an FI pit crew here next week," he joked.
At least only four of their teammates drove by to laugh at them on their way to the rink.
LINEUP CHANGES: Kiel Matisz and Thomas Whitty drew back into the lineup on the defensive end with Withers, Thorimbert, Bryce Sweeting and Blake McDonald out of the lineup. Joel Tayler remained out up front with Cam Milligan remaining in.
