The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers evened their record at .500 on Saturday night with a 15-8 win over the Owen Sound North Stars at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre. They’re now halfway through their 12-game regular season.
It was the Lakers’ first trip to Owen Sound to visit the new Major Series Lacrosse team, and it was eventful. It was a full four-hour trip south and then west. The Lakers arrived to find their little brothers from the Ennismore James Gang down 8-7 to the Sr. B North Stars, and cheered them on to their first victory of the season, 11-10 in overtime.
During the Lakers game, there was a tornado warning issues for the area. There were unconfirmed reports of a tornado sighting out on Georgian Bay, but the arena was safe despite the mighty downpour outside.
The North Stars are 0-6 on the season, but Lakers’ defensive coach Bobby Keast said they weren’t taken lightly, and Peterborough had to work for everything they got during the game.
“We knew they were going to come and really compete. They’re a young, athletic team and they challenged us, pushed the pace. Exactly what we thought we’d see… I thought our offence moved the ball extremely well, which made it really hard for them to use their energy to their advantage. Defensively… I thought we made some adjustments and were able to equal their energy and build on it for the third and outwork them.”
The game was tied after the first period, with Owen Sound taking the edge in faceoff wins, loose balls and transition. Down 3-2, Turner Evans scored with six seconds remaining in the first, on a power play, to tie it.
The Lakers opened it up early in the second, scoring three goals in the first three minutes of the period. Owen Sound responded with a pair before a high-sticking major to Mitch Gustavsen allowed the Lakers to score twice on the power play. Each team scored three more to close out the period with the Lakers up 11-8.
Landon Kells stopped every shot he faced in the third period while Peterborough added four more goals.
Rob Hellyer, a native of nearby Lion's Head, led the Lakers with three goals and four assists, while Austin Hasen scored a hat trick and added two assists. Turner Evans contributed six points including two goals and four assists.
Kells got the win in goal over Kaleb Martin in Owen Sound’s net.
The Lakers are back home for a pair of games next week. Tuesday they host the North Stars on a night honouring the 1984 and 2004 Mann Cup champion Laker teams, and Thursday they host the Six Nations Chiefs. Tickets for both games are on sale through the Memorial Centre box office.
SCORING FOR THE LAKERS:
Rob Hellyer (3-4)
Austin Hasen (3-2)
Turner Evans (2-4)
Thomas Hoggarth (2-3)
Taite Cattoni (2-1)
Holden Cattoni (1-3)
Mitch Ogilvie (1-1)
Dylan Hutchison (1-0)
Cam Milligan (0-2)
Robert Hope (0-2)
Andrew Vradenburg (0-2)
Owen Hiltz (0-1)
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