Lakers remain unbeaten
Peterborough Lakers destroy the Brampton Excelsiors 28-7 for their third win of the season.
Public address announcer Matty Bullard may have gotten more of a workout than Peterborough Century 21 Lakers goalie Matt Vinc on Thursday night.
The Lakers (3-0) scored early and often en route to a 28-7 win over the Brampton Excelsiors (0-3-1) in front of 2,749 fans at the Memorial Centre Thursday night. Peterborough (3-0) led 9-3 after the first period and 20-4 after the second.
Shawn Evans scored 24 seconds into the game. Brampton actually tied the game 2-2 and 3-3 in the first period but then it was all Lakers. Peterborough scored the final six goals of the first period and the first six of the second to take a 15-3 lead. Bullard could barely keep up with the goal announcements.
Lakers players put up some gaudy numbers in the win. Holden Cattoni scored seven goals and added two assists. Brad Self scored twice and assisted on 11 others. Junior A callup Jake Fox had four goals and three assists. Shawn Evans narrowly outscored his cousin Turner Evans; each scored three goals but Shawn added eight assists to Turner’s six.
Jake Withers had a huge game in the faceoff circle as he returned to the team from playing in the NCAA championship game with Ohio State. Withers won 24 of the 27 faceoffs he took, dominating the way Geoff Snider used to do. Withers enjoyed getting to play defence again after being a FOGO (faceoff, get off ) for the Buckeyes.
“I like it. I get to let my wings out and kind of fly,” he said. “Growing up playing box all the time and being a two-way guy, it’s nice to get back here to my roots and get more involved in the play.”
Withers said he and the rest of the team were focused on continuing to play the way they’ll need to in order to be successful and avoiding falling into bad habits.
“I’ve got a job to do just like every other guy on the team does,” Withers said. “Down the line, we’re going to have some tighter games where I’m going to have to keep my focus. We’ve always got to be chasing the best version of ourselves so when September comes we’re a better team than we were last September when we let that one slip away.”
Fox -- the captain of the Junior A Lakers -- enjoyed getting to play with the senior team again, lining up beside some of the best players in the game, and he made the most of it with his seven-point night.
“It’s pretty easy when you get to play with guys like Dickson and Evy. When you set a pick for them, they’ll find you if your stick’s open,” Fox said. “It was a fun game and it’s always nice when I get called up and get to play with these guys.”