Lakers sweep the Canucks, punched ticket to the OHL Cup

The Huron-Perth U16 AAA Lakers moved on to the ALLIANCE U16 AAA Playdowns Semifinals following a series sweep of the Elgin-Middlesex Canucks.

On Feb. 24, the Lakers competed in the second opening-round game of the ALLIANCE U16 AAA Playdowns against the Elgin-Middlesex Canucks at Komoka.

After a scoreless first period, the Lakers took the lead in the second. Evan Miller netted his second playoff goal with an assist from Mathieu Lepan at 3:51. The Lakers extended their lead with 6:28 remaining when Blake Moore scored his first postseason goal, assisted by Luke Mclean and Declan McCotter.

Elgin-Middlesex narrowed the Huron-Perth lead to 3-1 with 3:36 remaining in the period. In the third period, the Lakers regained their three-goal advantage around the midpoint of the final frame. Ethan Bridges scored his first playoff goal, with assists from McCotter and Callum Brooks, on the powerplay.

The Canucks narrowed the gap again with under five minutes remaining, but Miller and Bridges each scored their second playoff goals, 54 seconds apart late in the period, securing a 5-2 victory and a 2-0 series lead.

Ahead of Game 3, head coach Jason Brooks mentions that while the team is satisfied with their 2-0 series advantage, they haven’t yet performed at their best.

“I would look at the first two games and say we're really happy to have won, but we haven't been overly happy with how we've played. Full credit to Elgin. They've worked their butts off, they've competed,” Brooks said.

“We've been able to score some timely goals to find a way to get the wins. But I think we found a way to get timely goals, which definitely helped and, you know, set us up to put us in a position Friday night to hopefully get a win and close up the series.”

Bridges says the team hasn’t played to their standard but expected to battle to close the series.

“We've been all right, but we could battle harder, and we're still getting the W's, so that's great,” Bridges said.

“We're just going to battle harder against them. We've got to match their intensity because they're coming with us with intensity, and he's got to play to their level.”

On Feb. 27, the Lakers looked to close their series against the Canucks on home ice at the Stratford Rotary Complex.

Elgin-Middlesex opened the scoring 90 seconds into the first period. McCotter scored his first postseason goal less than two minutes later on the power play, assisted by Miller and Wyatt Finch. Callum Brooks then scored two consecutive goals with 7:23 and 5:45 remaining in the first, giving the Lakers a 3-1 lead.

The Canucks tallied one late in the period, over two minutes before it ended, but Christian Circelli responded less than 30 seconds later, with a goal assisted by Brooks and Miller, restoring the Lakers' two-goal cushion before the contentious first period concluded.

The Lakers' offence picked up in the second period. Circelli, along with two more goals from Brooks in the final three minutes, gave the home team a commanding 7-2 lead heading into the third. Circelli added his third goal midway through the last period. The Canucks scored once more with over five minutes remaining, but the Lakers finished strongly and secured the series with an 8-3 win over the visitors.

Callum Brooks delivered a remarkable four-goal, five-point performance to secure the series-winning win. Additionally, four Lakers – Finch, Circelli, McCotter and Miller – each scored three points.

Jason Brooks expressed pride in the team’s performance and emphasized the importance of qualifying for the OHL Cup.

“It’s meant a lot for everybody, all the players, all the coaches. I mean, it was a goal from the beginning of the season, or even before the season, to have this group get to that opportunity, to get it to have a chance to play in the OHL Cup and to represent the Alliance, represent the Lakers organization at that event,” Brooks said.

“But now we've got bigger things to deal with. We're moving on to round two and figure out who we're gonna face. But you know, the competition's gonna be really tough, so we just gotta get prepared and get ready to go.”

Kipfer states he and his team are excited to move on to the next round and have qualified for the OHL Cup.

“It feels really good just to qualify for the next round with the sweep. You know, we had a couple tough first games, kept it a bit closer than we would have liked,” Kipfer said.

“But I think today we really came and we did a job, and we showed that when we play the right way, we can really blow teams out of the water. The OHL Cup is a special tournament. Everybody wants to make that, and making it feels really good.”

The Lakers are set to compete against the Brantford 99ers in the upcoming round of the ALLIANCE U16 AAA Semifinals. Their semifinal series will kick off on March 6 at the Stratford Rotary Complex.

U16 AAA ALLIANCE Quarterfinal Schedule (Huron-Perth Lakers vs. Elgin-Middlesex Canucks)

Game 1 – Elgin-Middlesex 0 Huron-Perth 2

Game 2 – Huron-Perth 5 Elgin-Middlesex 2

Game 3 – Elgin-Middlesex 3 Huron-Perth 8

Huron-Perth wins series 3-0

U16 AAA ALLIANCE Semifinal Schedule (Huron-Perth Lakers vs. Brantford 99ers)

Game 1 – Brantford vs. Huron-Perth (Stratford Rotary Complex – Rink A) March 6, 8:30 p.m.

Game 2 – Huron-Perth vs. Brantford (Wayne Gretzky Centre) March 8, 3:45 p.m.

Game 3 – Brantford vs. Huron-Perth (Stratford Rotary Complex – Rink B) March 12, 8:45 p.m.

Game 4 – Huron-Perth vs. Brantford (Wayne Gretzky Centre) March 14, noon, if necessary.

Game 5 – Brantford vs. Huron-Perth (Stratford Rotary Complex – Rink B) March 15, 3:15 p.m., if necessary.

Game 6 – Huron-Perth vs. Brantford (TD Brantford Civic Centre) March 16, 8:15 p.m., if necessary