U13 Lakers Start Strong, Earn Quebec Tournament Spot

By: Michael Willoughby

The U13 Huron-Perth AAA Lakers picked up where they left off last season as a U12 squad by winning the Toronto Red Wings Early Bird Championship late last month and starting their regular season on a positive note last week.

Last week brought a major announcement for the program: the Lakers shared on social media that they had been accepted to the world-renowned Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. The 2027 tournament runs from Feb. 10 to 21 in Quebec City.

In an interview with the Times, U13 Lakers head coach Shawn Walker discussed the announcement and the challenge of competing at the event against top U13 AAA teams from around the globe.

“Yeah, it's obviously very exciting for our group. I think we're only the second Laker team ever to go to the Quebec TV tournament, and it's a prestigious one that's very hard to get into. For us to be accepted and to go represent Huron-Perth, this is a big opportunity for our team,” Walker said.

“Obviously, it's going to be very difficult, and it's the biggest tournament in the world for that age group. So, yeah, we're excited to, you know, represent the organization, and hopefully represent the age group and the ALLIANCE, and put up a good showing. So I think it'll be a great opportunity for the boys. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I hope all these boys get to remember for the last for the rest of their lives.”

As a U12 squad, the Lakers dominated last season, finishing 69-4-3 overall, winning the Kitchener Blueline and Great Lakes Cup tournaments, and claiming their second consecutive ALLIANCE league championship under Walker’s stewardship. The squad also reached the finals of the International Silverstick and Florida Panthers Puck Tournaments.

Getting the season off to a great start was important for Walker, who knows the goal is to remain a top provincial team and compete at a higher level.

“Yeah, you know, we knew we were going to be fairly similar. We had 14 returning players and added 3 new players, which we felt helped our team get a little better. So we knew we were going to be right in the mix, but you know, like everybody else is getting better too. So you're playing other good teams, and it's tough to compete with some of the GTHL teams, especially the higher end ones. So you know we weren't sure, like, realistic expectations,” Walker said.

“We were aiming for around the top of the province again. So it was nice to get off to a good start and achieve a good result at the Toronto Red Wings tournament. We have high expectations, and we keep raising the bar as we try to repeat the ALLIANCE again this year. We put ourselves in a lot of really difficult tournaments to try to push the group to another level, kind of. So, yeah, we're very happy with how we started the year.”

The Lakers opened the regular season on Oct. 3 with a 3-3 draw against the London Jr. Knights, but won against the Chatham-Kent Cyclones 7-1 at Zurich on Oct. 4, 5-1 against the Cambridge Hawks at the Stratford Rotary Complex on Oct. 9, and 6-1 over the Elgin-Middlesex Canucks in Komoka on Oct. 10.

Next up for the U13 Lakers is against the Waterloo Wolves at RIM Park in Waterloo on Oct. 16, followed by an early-evening game in Brantford against the 99ers at the TD Civic Centre on Oct. 17.