11-point night for Evans
Lakers now need to beat Six Nations Chiefs on the road Tuesday to secure first-place finish
The first place showdown is set. Peterborough Century 21 Lakers blasted the Oakville Rock 15-8 before a season-high 3,380 fans at the Memorial Centre on Thursday night. It bumped them three points ahead of the Six Nations Chiefs who the Lakers visit Tuesday in a contest that will likely decide first place overall.
The Lakers’ only other regular season game is against last place Cobourg Kodiaks Thursday at the PMC. Six Nations holds one game in hand and face Cobourg on Sunday and Brampton on Thursday.
Shawn Evans was having a special night up until he got into a fight with Brandon Slade 2:44 into the third period and received an automatic game misconduct. Up to then, Evans was in on every goal in an 11-6 lead. He had four goals and seven assists but his ejection ended any chance of a run at Shawn Williams’s MSL single-game points record of 21 set in 1999.
“The guy whacked me a couple of times and we had a good lead at the time so I just had to see if I still had it in me,” Evans said. “I probably didn’t need to end with a fight there but it happened.”
Evans both set them up and knocked them down. He drew gasps from the crowd with 3:19 left in the second when he drove the net faked a shot and whipped the ball around his back past surprised goalie Steve Fryer. He was aware he had a point on every goal. “I had an idea. The stick was feeling good and the ball was moving around,” he said. “I thought we moved the ball well and the ball was swinging. If you look at the score, we put up 15 goals tonight, it was good overall.”
Kyle Buchanan, who had six points of his own, wasn’t surprised by the outburst from the MSL scoring leader.
“Shawnee can go off at any time,” said Buchanan. “I play with him in New England in the winter time as well and he’s a special player. When he wants to turn it on he can certainly take over a game. We have so many threats on offence that Shawnee can put the ball where he wants.”
Buchanan liked the behind the back goal the best.
“I’ve seen it a handful of times,” said Buchanan. “It’s become a little patented move of his... He gets the goalie baiting far-side and he was able to tuck it short-side. You have to be pretty accurate with those. I’ve tried a few of them but not as successfully as Shawnee.”
It was the Lakers third win in four nights and sixth win in a row.
“It was a long week for us,” Buchanan said. “We were taking it as trying to build for playoffs and it was nice to come out on top of all three especially with a full 60 minutes as a group.”
Evans will miss the first place showdown as he’s in Rhode Island for a prior lacrosse commitment.
“Hopefully the boys can rally and get the win,” said Evans.
The Lakes were fine without him scoring three goals in the 2:15 after his departure. Holden Cattoni had seven points including three goals to push his league leading total to 42. Curtis Dickson and Turner Evans had two goals and four points each and Adam Jones five points including four assists.
Brett Hickey was Oakville’s top gun with a hat trick while Connor Fields and Jeremy Noble had a pair of goals for Oakville who never led. The Brooklin Redmen beat the Brampton Excelsiors 13-11 Thursday to move three points ahead of Oakville for third place.
The top four teams for playoffs are decided with the Lakers and Chiefs the only ones capable of finishing first and Brooklin with the advantage for third. Brampton and Cobourg are out of playoff contention.