Lakers getting back to winning ways

The Huron-Perth U16 Lakers resumed their unbeaten regular season form last week with two wins and a draw.

On Jan. 7, the Lakers travelled to Kitchener to face the Kitchener Jr. Rangers. Callum Brooks opened the scoring with his 15th of the year from Ethan Bridges and Wyatt Finch in the first period. In the second period, Declan McCotter scored a hat trick to increase the Lakers' lead to 4-0 before Kitchener got one on the board before the period ended. Bridges notched his ninth of the season from Brooks and McCotter to cement the 5-1 win.

The Lakers returned to the Stratford Rotary Complex for their two weekend home games against the Cambridge Jr. RedHawks and the Sarnia-Lambton Jr. Sting.

On Jan. 10 against Cambridge, the visitors got on the board in the first period, only for the Lakers to flex their offensive firepower by scoring five unanswered goals in the final two periods en route to a 5-1 win. McCotter, Brooks, Luke Mclean and Blake Moore each led the team with two points in the win.

Following the game, head coach Jason Brooks wasn’t pleased with the team’s performance against Cambridge but was willing to take the win.

“Took us a while, obviously, to get going. We didn't get our offence going until the third period, but once we got one, we were kind of breaking the floodgates, so to speak,” Brooks said.

“There were a few more to give us a bit of a lead that you didn't have to worry as much about, but at the same time, there's areas we want to get better at, be more consistent with our efforts.”

In the final game of the weekend homestand, the Lakers' offence was left to be desired as they settled for a 1-1 draw against Sarnia-Lambton. Colten Van Geffen scored the lone goal for the Lakers in the first period.

With the results, the Lakers are currently in second place with five points behind the London Jr. Knights in the U16 AAA ALLIANCE standings.

Next up for the Lakers is preparing for the weekend tournament at Upper Canada College in Toronto, taking place on Jan. 16 and 17.