Chiefs go out swinging against Panthers
PORT HOPE – The Lakefield Chiefs went down swinging.
Lakefield’s season ended in a 7-6 overtime loss to the heavily favoured Port Hope Panthers in a wild Game 6 of their PJHL Schmalz Cup quarter-final Saturday night at Port Hope’s Jack Burger Sports Complex.
Mike Smith scored 14:04 into overtime, after the Panthers killed an overtime penalty, to give Port Hope a 4-2 series win. They advance to the semifinals looking for a third straight trip to the final.
The Chiefs, sponsored by Hendren Funeral Homes, rallied from a 3-0 first period deficit to score five straight goals. Port Hope came back to tie it 5-5 before Aaron Vatcher put Lakefield up 6-5 on a power play with 5:31 left in the second period. Nathan Snoek tied it on a power play with 1:50 left in the second. After an eight-goal second period the teams were scoreless for a span of 35:54.
Vatcher had three goals and an assist despite playing with two bad shoulders throughout the series.
“He’s an animal,” said Chiefs’ coach Jamie Arcand. “He wouldn’t let me keep him out of the lineup. Tarren Jank has been suffering from a shoulder injury since the start of the playoffs. Eric Oosting will be heading to the doctor soon to get his foot checked out. He blocked a shot very early in the playoffs and he can barely walk. The fact he’s skating around the way he is is unreal. If it was regular season those three wouldn’t be playing.”
Arcand said he points this out not to make excuses but to show the will his players had to win Game 5 and almost push it to seven games.
“These kids laid it all on the line,” said Arcand. “These kids haven’t quit all season so it doesn’t surprise me whatsoever that we were able to come back from such a big deficit early on. The desperation and way we played certainly makes me proud to be their coach. We could have just mailed it in when we got down 3-0. We got a lot of compliments from fans as we were leaving about what a hard working team we are. That reiterates the program we put together this season worked.”
The Chiefs are a relatively young team so there is reason to think the future is bright.
“I feel terrible for our three overages Eric Oosting, Nick Hildenbrand and Colton Armstrong having their junior C careers end tonight,” said Arcand. “it’s tough for them but our future certainly does look bright with all of our young guys playing big roles and big minutes this year. I don’t think some of our young guys realized how good a hockey this is and when you get a little deeper into the playoffs the fan support that comes with it. It was a little bit of an eye-opener for those guys. I can only imagine they’ll come back next season just as hungry as they were this year with an extra year of experience under our belt.”
Ethan McDougall and Will Hickey also had a goal and assist each. Hildenbrand, Matt McIntyre, Lyndon LeMoire and Cole Ellis had assists.
Snoek scored twice for Port Hope while Kallen McFarland had a goal and two assists, Dalton Lawrence and Peterborough native Cam McGill a goal and assist and Jon Campbell also scored.
Michael Christie faced 52 shots in the Lakefield net. Sheldon Calbury got the win stopping 20 of 22 shots after replacing Eric Jackson who surrendered four goals on nine shots.
Eric Oosting will be heading to the doctor soon to get his foot checked out. He blocked a shot very early in the playoffs and he can barely walk. The fact he’s skating around the way he is is unreal.” Chiefs’ coach Jamie Arcand