Lakers compete at the Toronto Titans Tournament

By: Michael Willoughby

The U16 and U18 Huron-Perth Lakers competed at the annual Toronto Titans Tournament during the weekend of Oct. 1 through 4.

In the U16, the Lakers competed in Group 2 during the round-robin and began their tournament against the Central Ontario Wolves on Oct. 1, losing 4-0 in the opener.

On Oct. 2, Huron-Perth faced the Oakville Rangers in their morning contest. Oakville took a 1-0 lead after the first period, but Tyson Dale, assisted by Dexter Powell, tied the game at 2:39 into the second period. Oakville retook the lead before the end of the period and doubled their lead midway through the final frame.

Dale’s second of the game from Simon Howard and Levi Dunn on the power play with 3:54 left put the Lakers within a goal, but Oakville iced the Lakers’ second loss in group play with 31 seconds left in regulation.

In the evening game, the Lakers came back from a 2-0 deficit for their lone win of the tournament, defeating Northeast Generals 3-2. Nathan Murphy, from Logan Tallevi, scored with 2:58 left in the first period to start the comeback. Dale’s third of the tournament in the second period tied the game with 1:31 left, and Will Molenhuis, from Carter Williams, capped off the comeback early in the third period.

On Oct. 3, the Lakers aimed to conclude their tournament performance positively in the matchup against the Ottawa Valley Titans.

After Ottawa Valley opened the scoring, the Lakers responded with 5:09 left in the opening frame, courtesy of Powell’s first of the tournament, set up by Murphy. The Titans scored five unanswered in the next two periods to take the game out of reach. But the Lakers finished the game on an encouraging note with a late power-play goal from Colin Dinel, set up by Powell and Murphy, with 1:20 remaining.

The U16 Lakers finished the tournament with a 1-3 record, good for fifth place in the group. Next for the U16 Lakers is competing at the Wendy Dufton tournament in London from Oct. 8 to 11.

For the U18 Lakers, tournament play began on Oct. 1, competing in an eight-team Group 2. Their first opponent was the North York Rangers.

In the first period, Matteo Gircante opened the scoring on an unassisted goal with 8:38 left in the opening frame. North York tied the game in the second period and took the lead midway through the third period. Knox Harrison tied the game for the Lakers on a power-play goal from Owen Jarmuth and Josh Hall with 6:58 left in the game. The game settled for a 2-2 draw.

On Oct. 2, the Lakers played their late morning game against the Markham Majors. Tyler Burtenshaw, with assists from Ethan Schmidt and Grady Siroky, put the Lakers ahead 1-0 midway through the opening frame.

Markham answered with three unanswered goals in the middle frame, taking a 3-1 lead heading into the third period. The Majors tallied one more early in the period, but Schmidt’s first of the tournament with 1:30 left alleviated a tough outing for the Lakers in a 4-2 defeat.

In the afternoon game against the Amherst Knights, Curtis Gracey’s second-period goal, assisted by Ethan Mahn and Schmidt, gave the Lakers a 1-1 draw and their first point in the preliminary round.

The Lakers looked to finish off their tournament run on a positive note against the Southern Tier Admirals on Oct. 3.

With 90 seconds left in the first period, the Lakers got on the board with a goal by Mahn, assisted by Samuel Harrow. Schmidt scored his second of the tournament from Koby Hopf-Stasso and Gracey 26 seconds later to put the Lakers 2-0 after the opening frame.

Knox Harrison, from Jason Adair, scored at 3:02 into the second period to give the Lakers a commanding 3-0 lead. In the third period, Burtenshaw tallied his second of the tournament 24 seconds into the final frame, putting the Lakers up 4-0. From there, the Lakers held on to the multi-goal lead and finished with a 4-1 victory, closing out their tournament play with a respectable 1-1-2 record.

Next up for the U18 Lakers is their ALLIANCE season opener in Sarnia against the Sarnia-Lambton Jr. Sting on Oct. 11.