Lakers back in action tonight
Posted By Laura Shantora Nelles, Central Plains Herald-Leader
Posted 16 days ago
The Gladstone Lakers Senior A hockey team got the season off to the right start with a decisive 5-1 victory over Crystal City last weekend.
The club had previously defeated Stonewall in an exhibition match and is gearing up for the home opener Saturday night.
"We're looking pretty strong for this year," said Lakers head coach Dale Evenson. "We probably only lost five guys from last year." The team lost in Game 7 of the Tiger Hills Hockey League semi-finals last year, and is looking like another force to be reckoned with for 2009-10.
The team did lose one of the top players of the 2008-09 season in Bryan White, who is now suiting up for the rival team in Carberry, but they've picked up Shane Drury. Drury was the leading scorer last season for the Neepawa Natives Junior A team and is a welcome addition to the Lakers.
"We've also added Travis Tilly and another goaltender, Nathan Braun," said Evenson.
Notching goals for the Lakers in the win over Crystal City were: Cam Tippett with two, and Derek Hooper, Travis Fisher and Bryce Kulbacki each chipping in with one.
The team was plagued with penalties that evening but didn't allow any powerplay goals, killing off 16 minor penalties, including two 5-on-3s. The team's penalty kill was solid, and helped the club in more ways than one.
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"It was 2-1 after the second, and then we killed off a 5-on-3 early in the third and we just built on the momentum. It made a big difference for us. We scored two minutes after that and then again another two minutes later," said the coach.
Evenson said the team had close to 50 shots, and that Crystal City's netminder kept them in much of the game.
He also said he was "very happy with the penalty kill. Shane Drury broke his stick during the 5-on-3 and he blocked three shots which was huge."
The Lakers play their home opener this evening against Swan Lake, the defending league champions. "They've got a good team again this year," Evenson said.
The Lakers will not return home after this weekend until Dec. 1 for a Tuesday-night match up with Crystal City. The wonky schedule, though, "kind of works to our benefit," the coach said. "We get all of our away games out of the way before the weather gets cold. The crowds usually aren't very good in November, people are still busy or they're away hunting. We only just got our ice in the middle of October and we've only had three practices because it's hard to get ice."
Evenson said he thinks the team is "off to a good start. We've got two tough games this weekend, but two very different games. On Friday we're in Wawanesa, which will be a more defensive game, and Saturday at home here against Swan Lake will be a more high flying game. They're a good team so it'll show us right away where we stand. They beat Carberry last week 9-3 and Carberry is pretty good."
Evenson is in his second year behind the bench after retiring from playing for the Lakers.
This year, in addition to the 22-game regular season schedule, the Tiger Hills League will see the All-Star game make a come back. The game will only be with Tiger Hills players, as arranging a game with a team in another senior league, like the South East League the Oakville Seals play in, was too difficult to schedule.
The puck drops tonight at 8 p.m. at Gladstone Arena.
sports@cpheraldleader.com
