Van Geffen and Brooks set sights for the future as Lakers resume ALLIANCE regular season play

Huron-Perth Lakers U16 AAA defenceman Colten Van Geffen says he's a shutdown defender who plays his best after Toronto Maple Leafs Simon Benoit, and his future ambitions are inevitable if he plays efficiently.

“I'd like to get drafted this upcoming year, just kind of see where the road takes me, but obviously I want to end up playing well,” Van Geffen said.

Forward Callum Brooks says he's best described as a 200-foot player, a versatile forward, and that he plays his game to the style of the OHL Brantford Bulldogs' Jake O'Brien. Brooks said his priority is to pursue major junior and then the professional ranks.

“I think next year is to get drafted to the OHL, and then hopefully make it as far as I can, and then eventually, hopefully get drafted to the NHL," Brooks said.

On Dec. 5, the first-place Huron-Perth Lakers squared off with the Elgin-Middlesex Canucks at the Stratford Rotary Complex.

Evan Fisher opened the scoring for the Lakers with less than ten minutes left in the first period from Wyatt Finch and Declan McCotter. Fisher scored his second goal of the game from Joseph Haskett and Christian Circelli 95 seconds into the second period to extend their lead to 2-0.

McCotter put the Lakers up 3-0 at the 12:52 mark of the middle frame from Brooks and Ethan Bridges, and Bridges connected for the third time before the end of the period from McCotter and Luke McLean to give the home side a 4-0 lead heading into the final period.

The Canucks broke the Lakers' Tyler Wilkinson's shutout bid early in the third period, but a pair of goals from Brooks and the first goal of the season from Blake Moore cemented the 7-1 rout by the Lakers over the Canucks.

In the afternoon of Dec. 7, the Lakers hosted their second game in three days against the Waterloo Wolves.

The visitors got in front 76 seconds into the game, but the Lakers responded with a goal from Circelli, Fisher and Tanner Luczka.

Waterloo retook the lead less than 90 seconds later, only for the Lakers to reach level terms before the first period ended, with a laser from McCotter, his 18th of the season, from Bridges and Kipfer, with 53 seconds left.

After a scoreless and near penalty-free second period, Waterloo regained the lead sixteen seconds into the final frame. Brooks responded with a goal 1:19 into the period, and three minutes later, Fisher gave the Lakers their first lead of the contest with 15:41 to play.

But the Lakers got into penalty trouble late in the period, and the visitors made them pay with the equalizer with 1:51 left in the contest. As a result, the game ended in a hard-fought 4-4 draw.

After the game, Lakers head coach Jason Brooks shared his thoughts on the draw.

“I don't think it was the best game today, but I'll give full credit to Waterloo for the hard work. I thought we struggled early, early through the first two periods. We fought back to get the lead in the third, which was positive, and then we got in trouble at the end, and I thought (we'd) done an excellent job killing that off," Brooks said.

“But then unfortunately, they get a puck to the net, they got a rebound, and they were able to whack it in, which got it to a tie, something for us to learn from those and get back on track.”

Kipfer says the team didn’t play to their capabilities, given the recent performances from the Silver Stick and against Elgin-Middlesex.

“I don't think we had our best today. I think we were coming off a high. We had a good silver stick. We played a good game against Elgin on Friday night there, and I think we just came out flat-footed,” Kipfer said.

“Waterloo wanted it more than us, and it showed in the first period, and we were chasing all game, and we got the lead back, which was good. And take two stupid four-minute penalties that'll cost us in the long run.”

Looking forward to next week, Brooks says it is back to the fundamentals.

“We'll do some video; we'll watch what we did. We'll learn from what we did wrong and look to improve on it,” Brooks said. “We'll get back to practice, back to some hard work and what we'll try to get back to playing our game well."

The Lakers head to Komoka for their game against the Elgin-Middlesex Canucks on Dec. 14.