Lakers advance to Mann Cup
Lakers make up for blowing 3-0 series lead in last year’s MSL championship series
The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers took care of one piece of unfinished business and now hope to take care of another.
In front of 3,464 home fans who rose to their feet in the final minute the Lakers won their 25th MSL championship outscoring the Six Nations Chiefs 2-1 in the third period of a 9-7 win at the Memorial Centre Thursday night.
It exorcised the demons of an epic collapse in 2016 when they blew a 3-0 series lead to the Chiefs in the final. This year they wouldn’t be denied outscoring SIx Nations 19-4 in the third period during the series in winning the best-of-seven final 4-1.
Despite a 20-year drought from 1984-2004, the Lakers have won the Ontario title 25 times in 67 years dating back to their first in 1951 and eight times in the past 14 years.
The Lakers last competed in the Mann Cup in 2015 losing in six games out west to the Victoria Shamrocks. They’ll head west again hoping to take care of that unfinished business, this time against the New Westminster Salmonbellies, starting on Sept. 8.
What was different this year from last was the addition of Kyle Buchanan and Curtis Dickson but equally as important the contributions of rising young stars like Zach Currier who was a stud on transition and fired two key goals in the final game, Holden Cattoni, who started the scoring, and Jake Withers who dominated the faceoff circle.
They complemented veteran leaders like playoff scoring leader Shawn Evans, Adam Jones, who had four points in the game, and defensive leaders like Robert Hope and Brock Sorensen. Evan Kirk and Matt Vinc were stalwarts in net.
“It was a full team effort,” Currier said. “It’s not one guy doing it, And we’re playing in front of the two best goalies in the world.”
He was a junior call-up when they last won in Six Nations in 2015 but doing it at home was extra special.
“You get goosebumps when the final buzzer is ticking down and you’ve got close to 4,000 people in the arena screaming, all excited for the same thing. It feels like the whole town is behind us.”
“It’s surreal,” Withers said. “I grew up watching some of the legends in Peterborough playing in this in 2004 through 2010 and 2012. it’s something I’ve wanted to do my whole life. It’s like a dream come true. I hope we can go out west and battle and bring a Mann Cup back to Peterborough.”
Currier gave the Lakers a 7-6 lead, one they did not relinquish, late in the second period. He intercepted a pass and fed Brad Self then went to the net to convert his rebound at 19:01.
Jones gave the Lakers their first two-goal lead of the game 8:33 into the third on an outside shot that found the far corner. It created a buzz in the crowd that didn’t dissipate.
Sorensen added insurance with 6:24 left on an odd-man rush finishing a pass from Jones. Dan Dawson off a pick and roll closed the gap to 9-7 with 3:52 remaining but they got no further.
“It’s always great when you’re able to win the OLA and go to the Mann Cup,” Hope said. “It’s one of the steps in the process to win the Mann Cup. It’s not the one we want but we’re glad we have it as a step along the way to a Mann Cup.”
“The biggest thing is we played with a lot of energy,” said Lakers coach Mike Hasen. “Just about every shift of every game. Whether we started slow or not every game we got better. The third period stats alone show the third was our best period every game. We just stuck with it.”
“Every one of us has a goal to win a Mann Cup. That’s been our focus,” Hasen said.
The game was a seesaw battle with each team holding leads through the first 40 minutes. The score was 2-2 after 20 minutes and each team led in the second. Randy Staats and Jordan Durston led the Chiefs with two goals each.