Lancers stay steely against Red Knights in Tier 1 hockey
[attach]1095[/attach]The Leaside Lancers won an easy joust over midtown rival Northern Dec. 2 in Tier 1 hockey action.
Piercing the Red Knights’ armor for a 9-1 victory was not top of mind for head coach Peter Shier, but he was pleased with an A-one performance from his charges.
“I think we played really well,” he said. “I liked the fact that we moved the puck, everybody was involved in the game — there were no passengers.”
It was a hard game to swallow for Red Knights defenceman Jack Lovering, but the team still walked off the ice with their heads held high.
“It was a rough game. I thought we tried really hard though,” he said. “I don’t think the score justified how hard we played.
“They capitalized on a lot of our giveaways, but overall I think we played well.”
Where the chink in the armor occurred though was not lost on Lovering.
“We had a lot of grade 9s in the lineup: four, which is more than we’ve had previously. So we were pretty underrepresented by our senior players,” he said. “That was a big part of it, but just a lack of players in general.”
Two periods passed by with no goals from Northern and five by Leaside.
Lancers Goalie Sean Ryan held onto his shutout going into the third period but was beaten for a single marker by Northern’s Jacob Boone during a scramble in front of the net.
The notch thrilled Lovering.
“It’s good to get one goal — take away the goalie’s shutout,” he said.
Towards the twilight of the game though, Leaside took an aggressive penalty when Aaron Thow shoved a Red Knight after the whistle.
Though it was undisciplined, Shier assured it was not malicious.
“It was a late hit, and we have a lot of respect for Northern and their program,” he said. “Nobody was trying to hurt anyone, that’s for sure.”
With nine different players contributing to the scoresheet for the Lancers — Danny Tallis, Kevin Torkos, Sam Manos, Aaron Routledge, Andy Huckle, Michael Kanopoulos, Kevin Shier, Connor Ryan and Aaron Thow — The Lancers obviously have a lot of depth.
“I think we didn’t have any real superstars,” coach Shier said. “We’ve just have a bunch of guys who work hard.
“Everybody contributed: the defence, forwards, goaltenders.”
While recovering from the shelling, the Red Knights look to improve for their next match Dec. 8, Malvern Black Knights — a team that beat Leaside 3-2.
“We’re going to come out and show them that we’re not a team that can be pushed around,” he said.
The Lancers will take part in the Brother Arthur Tournament at De La Salle College Dec. 10–12.
Shier is optimistic they’ll do well.
“Hopefully we’ll just keep going,” he said. “Everybody plays, everybody contributes and that’s good.”