Overview:
The Peterborough Lakers defeated the Mimico Mountaineers 9-5 Monday to take a 1-0 series lead in the best of five second round in the OJLL.
The Peterborough Lakers defeated the Mimico Mountaineers 9-5 Monday to take a 1-0 series lead in the best of five second round in the OJLL. The win was the fourth straight in the playoffs for the Lakers, who reverse swept the Six Nations Arrows in round one.
If you are the video type, a full recap of my thoughts on the game can be found below!
As mentioned in the video, there were several interesting battles to watch for the rest of the series, let’s discuss some of them.
Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots, Shots
If you read that in a Lil Jon voice, then you are telling on yourself for being a certain age. If you have no clue what I am talking about, you’re either too old or too young to understand the reference. In that case, I’m sorry, and congrats respectively.
But the shots were a major story in this game. Mimico out-shot the Lakers by 40-37. That 40 shot number was significantly lower than the recent average for Mimico. In the three games against Brampton (all wins), Mimico took 55, 61, and 48 shots. They also scored more than 10 goals in each contest.
Through a combination of transition play (creating more possessions in general), and earning offensive zone loose balls (creating more possessions for themselves), the Mountaineers have been successful this season by forcing teams to play a lot of defence and wearing them down.
The Lakers defence is big, athletic, and they are good on loose balls. By winning those extra possessions and limiting repeat opportunities, the Lakers kept the shots down and in-turn the scoring.
This will be one of the main areas to watch for the rest of the series. The Lakers took round one.
Youth Movement Has Arrived
The left-side of the offence for Peterborough includes rookies Nate Sage, Matthew Drimmie, and ROTY nominee Colby Wood. Each of the three scored for the Lakers in the third period, and the goals highlight the different skillsets of the three.
Sage’s goal was a tough dodge to the middle of the floor, followed by a post-goal shove of his defender. Both the goal and the celebration highlight his ability, and willingness, to get to the dirty areas.
Then a few minutes later, Drimmie got through the middle of the defence with some slick footwork and finished another one.
Finally, Wood iced the game with a slicing dodge through the defence, an example of his athleticism and ability to get to the hoop.
This group is going to be a lot to handle for years to come. But they’re tricky to deal with right now as well.
Looking Ahead
Looking ahead to Wednesday and game two, the keys will be which one of the Mountaineers stars will break out? Finlay Thomson, Lucas Dudemaine, and Mark Watters all went scoreless. That’s obviously got to change for Mimico.
For Peterborough, the Lakers now have a pretty solid blue-print for beating this Mimico team, which extends back to their 2-0 performance in the regular season. Stick to the game plan.
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