Lakers win
Lakers close out regular season on a winning note.
The game in terms of the standings didn’t mean anything to the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers but they still went out in fine style anyway.
With a convincing 12-4 win over the Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks at the Memorial Centre on Thursday night, the Lakers finished the Major Series Lacrosse (MSL) regular season with a 14-4 record for 28 points and in second place two points behind the first-place Six Nations Chiefs.
The Lakers will meet the thirdplace Oakville Rock in a bestof-seven semi-final, starting at the Memorial Centre at 7 p.m. Sunday. The Rock defeated the Brampton Excelsiors 11-5 last night to secure third place and the Chiefs get the fourth-place Excelsiors in the opening round’s other semi. The Kodiaks and Brooklin Redmen are out.
The only drama in the game here was the Lakers Shawn Evans had a chance to win the league scoring title. He needed 13 points but finished with six goals and five assists for 11.
“It wasn’t for lack of effort,’’ said Evans with a smile after the game. “The guys were feeding me the ball and I had my chances but it wasn’t meant to be. Finishing second still feels good. The big thing was we won the game and that’s how you want to go into playoffs.’’
Lakers GM Paul Day was not only pleased with his team’s effort but said Mark Steenhuis, thought to be out for the season with a torn ACL, had actually suffered a strain, and could be ready for playoffs.
“He always kept himself in good shape and is getting better every day,’’ said Day. “He could play Sunday. We’ll see. We have been trying to get better every night, getting ready for playoffs. Shawn plays fast and quick and had a good chance.’’
The Lakers put a stamp on it early in third and led 10-3 at four minutes. They increased that to 11-3 a couple of minutes later then the Kodiaks got on the board with their fourth and that’s the way it stood at the halfway stripe, with the Lakers up by seven. Peterborough added one more before the period ended and that was that.
The Lakers got off to quick start and held a 6-0 lead after the first period.
They got it up to 7-0 before the Kodiaks got on the board in the second. The Lakers added two more goals, including one on the power play, to lead 9-1 but the Kodiaks showed a little life with a couple of late markers to trail 9-3.
That’s the way the middle frame ended with the hosts carrying a 9-3 lead into the third period.