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| The Peterborough Lakers and KW Kodiaks battled hard Thursday after Peterborough jumped out to a 5-0 lead. They held on to win 10-6. (Photo: Tim Prothero) |
The Peterborough Lakers aren't used to
losing a lot of games; they've dropped just over four per season for
the past five summers. So a two-game losing streak is plenty to make
them come out ready to play, even if the two losses were to the
mighty Six Nations Chiefs. Peterborough jumped all over the
Kitchener-Waterloo Kodiaks early Thursday night, taking a 5-0 first
period lead en route to a 10-6 win that reinforced their hold on
second place in the MSL standings.
Adam Jones had his biggest night
as a Laker, scoring 3 goals and adding 2 assists while Cory
Vitarelli also had a 5-point night including 2 goals. Evan
Kirk made 30 saves to improve to 4-1 on the season. Affiliated
player Mat McLeod led the way for the Kodiaks with 2 goals and
an assist from his transition position.
“At the beginning of the game, I had
the feeling that our defence was going to shut them down. Any time
you have your defence doing that, it gives your offence a bit of
confidence and some more time with the ball,” Jones said. “We got
a couple early and were rolling there for a bit then in the second
period we had that little lull.”
That lull allowed the Kodiaks to fight
their way to an even remainder of the game, although they were never
able to get closer than four goals back. Three times the Lakers
answered within a minute and a half of a KW goal to keep the Kodiaks
at bay.
McLeod was a positive addition for KW.
He is living and working in Ottawa, so it's difficult for him to make
it to many games, but Peterborough is the shortest trip for him and
one that he likes to make. “It's always fun coming out here and
competing against the best, so I'm hoping to make more games down the
stretch,” McLeod said.
It's been hard on him being away from
the game. “It was nice to get out there with the boys. It's tough
having to sit out and look at PointStreak to see how they're doing.
I'm really proud of how the boys battled back tonight. We had a rough
start to the first period but we held it together,” McLeod added.
“We have a good solid core group of young players. We think there's
a bright future in Kitchener.”
McLeod said he feels like he's ready to
get back into the game. “I've been working pretty hard in the off
season trying to get in shape because it kind of sucks sitting out
this year in the NLL. It's been giving me more motivation to come
into this season in better conditioning and show the coaches what I
can do. I'm probably the most healthy I've ever been. This is the
longest layoff from lacrosse I've had in 20 years so I feel pretty
good.”
Peterborough also had an addition to
their transition game. Chad Tutton was making his home debut
and is enjoying what he's experienced with the Lakers. “It feels
great out there, it's a very home town feel, very welcoming.
Everybody's very welcoming, even just random people coming up and
welcoming me to the organization. I've never felt more welcome in my
life,” Tutton said.
