Shamrox force Game 5
8-4 home loss leaves Jr. C Lakers tied at 2-2 with Clarington with fifth and deciding game Friday in OJCLL series
The Peterborough Kawartha MinCom Realty Jr C Lakers came up flat in Game 4 of their OJCLL semifinals. As a result, they’re going to have to win another game in Clarington if they want to advance to defend their Meredith Cup provincial championship.
The Clarington Shamrox jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first half of the first period and added three power play goals in the second to take an 8-4 win that evens the best-of-five series at two games each Monday night at the Memorial Centre. Both teams have won their two games on the road.
Liam Osborne led the Shamrox with four goals and three assists. He was in on every one of their goals until the empty netter with a minute to play that sealed the deal.
“The big thing is just getting going right off the start,” Osborne said. “We know it’s a tough barn to play in; they get big crowds. But as long as we come out and get going we can find the net and we can keep it going.”
Lakers head coach Dave Baker said his team just didn’t come ready to play and he wasn’t happy about it. “Flat-footed D in the opening a little bit,” Baker said. “This is two home games in a row we’ve come up flat and it’s not acceptable. Simple as that. We know we can beat the team and to be honest, the boys should be a little embarrassed.”
Clarington led 5-1 twelve minutes into the second period when the ball bounced along the Lakers bench. A player who had just stepped onto the floor caught it before the player he was replacing was in the change box. The Shamrox scored just second after play was blown in.
That was an example of the kinds of penalties that hurt Peterborough in the game, although Baker didn’t see that as the biggest problem.
“We take stupid penalties and my D can handle all that but my O has to start producing, not just being perimeter players,” he said. “Probably 30 shots were from outside the dotted line and a big goalie like that, it’s going to hit him. He doesn’t have to stop the ball, it’s going to hit him.”
Clarington took their share of penalties too, but head coach Brock Harris isn’t too worried about that.
“We led the league in penalty minutes by quite a lot, so it’s a game we’re quite practiced in,” Harris said. “We play our game. If penalties happen, they happen. The guys who kill penalties for us do a great job. If they give us the ball, they generally don’t get it back.”
The key to bouncing back will be to bring more intensity, said Lakers player of the game Boyd DiClemente.
“They were desperate. It was do or die for them and we didn’t match it,” DiClemente said. “Now it’s one game take all and we’ve just got to be ready for Game 5.”
That game will be Friday at 8 p.m. in Clarington.