LAKERS WORLD MEDALLISTS HONOURED
Win moves Chiefs into third place, so Lakers will face Brooklin in playoffs starting Thursday
The Six Nations Chiefs dodged a first-round playoff meeting with the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers by beating them Thursday night.
The Lakers suffered their first loss at home of 2018 in their final regular season game falling 14-9 to the Chiefs before a season-high 3,781 fans at the Memorial Centre.
Kyle Jackson and Cody Jamieson fired five goals each for the Chiefs while Holden Cattoni led Peterborough with three.
It was a meaningless game for the Lakers (12-3-1) who had clinched first place in the MSL. But the two teams played nasty in the Chiefs first win in four meetings with Peterborough this season.
The Lakers will face the Brooklin Redmen (7-8-1) in the MSL semifinals starting at 8 p.m. Thursday at the PMC. The rest of the series dates are to be determined. The Chiefs (7-6-1) are tied with Brooklin in points but hold the tie-breaker with a 2-0 head-ot-head record. The Chiefs still have a shot at catching second place Oakville Rock (9-4-1) who they meet twice to close out the season and will face in the other semifinal.
“I don’t think it was meaningless, that one stings,” Lakers veteran Brock Sorensen said.
“You want to go into the playoffs with momentum. Especially to those guys too. There’s something about playing those guys. You never like to lose to them especially in that kind of fashion. We spotted them way too many at the beginning of the game and they’re way too talented and we ran into a hot goalie. We have to bounce back because we have to get ready for Brooklin. We can’t take so many penalties.”
A five-minute high sticking penalty to Eric Fennell helped the Lakers erase an early 2-0 deficit. Cattoni capped a three-goal run for a 3-2 lead before Six Nations erupted for five straight to lead 7-3 after 20 minutes on hat tricks by Jackson and Jamieson.
The Lakers gave up a goal with less than a second left in the second period, by Tyson Bell, which gave the Chiefs a 9-6 lead. Two early goals in the third put the Chiefs in full command and rough stuff ensued.
Jeremy Thompson drew the ire of fans and 22 minutes in penalties, including a match penalty, after stepping on Shawn Evans after leg sweeping him to the floor in a fight.
“We have to keep our emotions in check,” said Lakers head coach Mike Hasen.
“We can’t give a team like that nine or 10 power play opportunities. It’s one of the things that killed us tonight.
“It’s not what you want to see going into the playoffs,” Hasen said.
“It’s a reminder of where we have to get to going into the playoffs. We’ll take the lessons out of this one and we’ll be ready to go.”
NOTES: Cory Vitarelli has been out of the Lakers lineup since July 8 with a heel injury but Lakers GM Paul Day said he expects him back for the opening playoff game…. Jordan Stouros is expected to miss another couple of weeks with a broken finger…. Nick Weiss could miss another twoto-four weeks with a high ankle sprain suffered July 5. Jake Withers and Chad Tutton were given a night off.
Chiefs 14 Lakers 9
Lakers (12-3-1) scorers: Holden Cattoni (3-0), Josh Currier (2-2), Corey Small (2-2), Shawn Evans (1-2), Brock Sorensen (1-0), Kyle Buchanan (0-4), Adam Jones (0-3), Turner Evans (0-1).
Chiefs (7-6-1) scorers: Cody Jamieson (5-3), Kyle Jackson (5-2), Tyson Bell (1-1), Eric Fennell (1-1), Tyson Bomberry (1-0), Doug Jamieson (1-0), Randy Staats (0-8), Craig Point (0-4), Brendan Bomberry (0-1), Brian Cole (0-1), Liam Powless (0-1).
Next for Lakers: Game 1 of MSL semifinals at 8 p.m. Thursday at the PMC.