Jr. A Lakers rally to eliminate Burlington
Off to the semi-finals
The Peterborough Merit Precision Jr. A Lakers are off to the semi-finals after knocking off the Chiefs 11-10 Saturday in Burlington.
Dan Michel scored with 4:33 left to break a 10-10 tie and the Lakers held on to rally from a 2-1 series deficit and win the best-offive OLA Jr. A quarter-final 3-2. It was their first win in Burlington this year in four tries.
Peterborough advances to face the first place Six Nations Arrows in semi-final action. The best-ofseven series begins 8 p.m. Monday in Ohsweken with Game 2 at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Memorial Centre. Game 3 is 8 p.m. Thursday at Six Nations and Game 4 is 7 p.m. Saturday at the PMC. If necessary, Game 5 is 7 p.m. Sunday in Ohsweken, Game 6 is 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 30 in Peterborough and Game 7 at Six Nations 8 p.m. July 31. The other semifinal pits Whitby against Brampton.
Turner Evans led the Lakers with three goals and two assists including the tying marker 8:09 into the third period. The lead swung back and forth after Burlington took an early 2-0 edge only to have the Lakers reel off the next four goals.
Zach Herreweyers had two goals and two assists, Cam Milligan two goals and an assist, Michel and Zac Currier a goal and two assists, Kyle Killen and Kyle Trolley a goal and assist. Josh Currier, Jake Withers and Nate White added assists.
“That was some of the most entertaining lacrosse I've seen in the last couple of years,” said Lakers' head coach Mat Giles. “It was two really well matched teams who played their hearts out.”
After an underwhelming 11-9 regular season record, the Lakers began to live up in the last two games to what most observers feel is their vast potential.
“I think sometimes we get side-tracked because we believe we are that good,” Giles said. “The hardest part is getting the guys to dig in and work every night. I think the last couple of games against these guys, they have.”
Giles said goalie Donovan Fleischer was a key factor in the final two wins.
“Donovan has given us a chance to win,” he said. “The first couple of games of this series our defence was getting extended and they were getting easy cuts on us. That isn't on Donovan, it's on our defence. We made some adjustments and played a little tighter and tried to make them beat us from the outside. Donovan did a great job stopping those and our D did a great job staying in tight.”
Danny Lomas had four goals and two assists while Jacob Ruest and Patrick Corbett had two goals and four assists to lead Burlington. Also scoring were Bryan Cole and Braden Wallace.
Giles said he has nothing but respect for Burlington.
“They're a good team,” said Giles. “They were in third place for a reason. They have a real good defence and some really nice goal scorers and their goalie played well. They pushed us to the limit.”