U16 Lakers come up short at the Marlies Tournament, eight Lakers and coaching staff at Komoka for U16 Prospects

The U16 AAA Huron-Perth Lakers resumed tournament play after Christmas, participating in the 31st Toronto Marlies Holiday Classic. The Lakers played in Group C of the Tavares Conference during the round-robin.

On the opening day on Dec. 27, the Lakers shut out the Southern Tier Admirals 3-0 to open the round robin play in the morning, followed by a 3-1 win over the Markham Waxers in the evening. On Dec. 28 and 29, fortunes turned in the opposite direction for the Lakers, as they dropped a 5-2 decision to the Biosteel Sports Academy and relinquished a 2-1 second-period lead to lose 5-2 to the Mississauga Senators.

With the losses, the Lakers finished third in Group C at 2-2-0 and failed to advance to the quarterfinals.

Head coach Jason Brooks shared his thoughts on the tournament performance.

“We haven’t played in a few weeks, and following the Christmas break, you never know what you're going to get. I thought we got off to a good start. We won the first two games, kind of getting back into the rhythm. And then the beginning of our game against Biosteel, which put us in a tough spot to move on after losing that one. Had a really tough opponent in the Mississauga Senators. I thought we battled. I thought we competed in that game,” Brooks said.

“Ultimately, the guys are better than us, but I like the way we battle competing in that game, so that was positive. Something to move forward, though, in the regular season is for us to just, you know, bear down, learn from our mistakes in that tournament, try to get better from it.”

Defenceman Tanner Luczka and the team’s tournament leader in points, forward Ethan Bridges, say the team wasn’t playing at their standard at the tournament.

“I don't think it was our team's best, but we competed. We were in every game this weekend,” Luczka said.

“I think we had some moments, but it's not the best showing of what we could have done there,” Bridges said.

On Dec. 17, ALLIANCE Hockey announced a total of eight members of the U16 Huron-Perth Lakers named to the 2026 ALLIANCE U16 AAA Prospects Game on Jan. 4 in Komoka. In addition, the Lakers coaching staff of Brooks, assistant coaches Mike Jarmuth, Mike McLeod, Gregory Swan and Trainer Ashley Fielder have been named to the event.

Brooks said it is an honour to be a part of the showcase.

“Well, it's a credit to this group that the coaching staff is there. The success our team has had thus far in the regular season allows us as a coaching staff to be selected to represent Huron-Perth in that game,” Brooks said.

“Obviously, for the players, it's a nice honour – tip of the hat for them – for this start of the season they've had. Selfishly, I think, as a coach of a team, I think we could have taken more of our players, but I respect the league and the decision that they have to take one player from every team, at least one. But for the guys that are going to go, they're going to go represent well and represent themselves well, and hopefully have a great game and have some fun while you're competing well.”