The Jamestown Lakers earned their second win in as many days Sunday afternoon. The victory wasn’t exactly artistry, with the Lakers still trying to learn proper positioning at game speed. However, led by Chase Kartesz’ first two markers of the season, they managed to outscore their errors in a 5-3 win over the visiting Cheektowaga Warriors.
For the third straight game, the Lakers would draw first blood, but unlike the previous two games, it took awhile. While Jamestown controlled the play for much of the first period as evidenced by a 11-3 shot advantage, the scorekeeper had little to do until the final minutes of the first. With Cheektowaga pinned in its own zone by a furious Laker forecheck, Kameron Press took aim from the right point and fired a low clapper towards the net. Gavin Smith, always willing to get to the front amongst the trees, got his stick out and redirected the Press offering high glove side for his first of the season.
Just over a minute later, the Lakers doubled down when Jackson Kresge raced across the Warrior blue line. Facing a 1 on 3, Kresge faded to the outside and awaited a trailing Payton Daniels. Kresge backhanded the biscuit to Daniels, who was left alone in the slot. Daniels one-timer went through the wickets for his second of the year.
The Lakers still weren’t finished for the stanza though. One of the things the Lakers hope to do this season is to get their very talented defensemen involved in the offense. Several times in this game, a blueliner was seen pushing the attack by carrying the puck in open space. Cole Mazzurco and Kameron Press both led rushes for shots. And, with about 30 seconds to play in the first, Ben Scott defended a rushing warrior forward, recovered the puck at center ice, and saw daylight up the right side. He raced into the zone, hit the brakes to allow a defender slide by, drove the net, and put the puck in the top 90 for a 3-0 lead – a lovely solo effort. As he came to the bench, he was rewarded by his coach who, dripping with sarcasm, told him, “That was acceptable.”
The way things were going, it looked like the contest might get out-of-hand. However, the Warriors had a much better between-periods speech ready, and the game entirely flipped in the first seven minutes of the second. Laker goalkeeper, Brock Eppinger, was peppered with 11 shots in seven minutes as the Lakers seemingly forgot the game was still going on. the Lakers looked out-of-sorts and began to run all over the ice in a panic, rather than calmly remaining in position. In hockey, when you attempt to do the job of your teammates, inevitably you not only fail at doing theirs, you also aren’t doing your own. With Mazzurco in the box, the Warriors took advantage with Nathan Domroes cutting across the top of the circles and firing a shot back to the glove past Eppinger at the 13:52 mark. Before the Lakers could quell the bleeding, they found themselves in trouble again. Liam Boudy spotted up at the left hashmarks and found paydirt with a sneaky shot to the farside to draw within one.
Needing a lift, Kartesz delivered. Kartesz, leading Jamestown in shots on net by a large margin, seemed to be star-crossed. Earlier in the game, he hit a crossbar after a beautiful attack and time-after-time has been foiled by tendies’ stops. The Lakers staff finally did something right when, early in the period and looking for a spark, a coach grabbed Kartesz’ stick and gave it an exorcism. This black magic seemed to work, as Kartesz won a faceoff in the offensive zone. Pointman Zach Bishop then found him open in the slot. Katesz caught the help, spun the to backhand, and went farside for his much overdue first of the year.
Just four minutes later, Kartesz found himself in the same dot, left of the Warrior goalie, for another draw. Kartesz poked the puck forward through the center’s legs, took a tap pass from Smith, and slammed home his second. A bit more voodoo for number two. This second point moved Smith into a tie for the team’s scoring lead with Mikael Anderson.
The Laker coaches, wary of giving another dud of a speech, only quickly mentioned that they had not scored a third period goal all season before sending their charges back to center for the draw. This comment had zero effect, as the Lakers were, yet again, unable to put another on the board despite taking 10 shots in the third. Instead, it was the Warriors who would find the net, ending goaltender Stathi Theofilactidis’ season-long shutout streak. The play, which started harmlessly enough, soon developed into a classic “keystone cops” affair that saw one Laker miss a loose puck, two others collide and fall down, resulting in a Cheektowaga 2 on 1. Hunter Bolender took advantage of the miscues, attacking the hitherto flawless Theofilactidis from the left wall, and firing a wrister to the five-hole. Theofilactidis got 90% of it, but the puck just managed to trickle across the goal line for what would be the final goal in the 5-3 contest.
The Laker goaltending continues to be an area of strength for the Jamestown squad. With Eppinger stopping fourteen of sixteen shot and Theofilactidis halting 13 of 14, the Lakers keepers had a 90% save percentage.
The Lakers are now 3-0 this season. They will be back in action on Tuesday with a practice scrimmage against the Lakers Peewee A team. Thursday’s regular practice this week is cancelled, and our next league game is Sunday, March 7 at 3:30 vs a talented Southtowns Stars team at Northwest Arena in Jamestown.
Jamestown Lakers 07 Blog 