For the first 8 minutes of Sunday’s game, the Jamestown Lakers Bantams seemingly couldn’t get anything to go their way. Passing, skating, and puck handling were skills the Lockport Lock Monsters had seemingly hidden away from the visitors. Excuses flew about ceaselessly on the Jamestown bench – long trip, early game, ice conditions, bouncy pucks – but the fact remained that the Lakers made it look like it was the first game of the season, not the eighth. Then, the game pivoted in an instant at the hands of the MWM line (Mikael, Wojotowicz, and Meder), ending in an 8-1 Laker win.
The Lakers literally stumbled and bumbled their way along for the first several minutes of the game. Pucks bounced off sticks, edges caught the ice, and shots went wide by feet, not inches. A display of hockey prowess it was not. Fortunately, in the calm eye of this horrific storm was Jamestown’s goaltender, Stathi Theofilactidis, who stopped all 10 shots fired at him by the home team during the first period. Lockport deserved to be in a much better position at the end of the first than a 0-0 tie, having surrendered only three shots to Jamestown. Theofilactidis left the game after the first period, pushing his season save percentage to 87.8%.
The Lock Monsters finally found the back of the net early in the second on a goal by Reed Garlock. Down one, the Lakers badly needed a spark. Just then, the line of Mikael Anderson, Kyler Wojotowicz, and Payton Meder brought out a blow torch. The line took to the ice about a minute after the Lock Monster’s goal, and by the time they returned, the score was 3-1 Jamestown and the Lakers would never look back. Anderson got the party started off of a Wojotowicz feed at 11:18. Anderson would pop his second about 30 seconds later. Before the players on the bench even sat back down, Meder would assist on a Wojtowicz goal. After that shift, the momentum had totally swung – the Lakers played with more confidence and a much steadier hand. A minute after the MWM line smashed open the locks, Nash Luther would add another from his linemates, Izak Wojcinski and Canyon Johnson. The Lakers pushed the lead to 5-1 as Anderson secured the hat trick on a partial breakaway from Vinnie Clemente.
The Lakers defense was especially strong in this game. Donavin Brown used his long stick to lead the team in defensive stops, and Clemente and Kameron Press continued to develop their gritty game, consistently winning battles along the walls. Lucas Arnone used his speed to turn defensive stops into offensive opportunities.
Entering the third period, the Lakers talked about continuing to get pucks to the net. The line of Luther, Johnson, and Wojcinski did just that, adding three more tallies to the scoreboard. Luther found his target from Wojtowicz just seven seconds into a man-advantage. Johnson would then add two of his own, the first aided by the defensive pairing of Arnone and Clemente and the second from Luther.
The Lakers (3-4-1), winners of two straight games, have a busy weekend ahead of them. They will try to avenge a 4-0 Halloween loss as they host Cheektowaga on Saturday morning at 11:30. They then will travel to Rochester on Sunday to face the Junior Amerks, whom they tied 3-3 earlier in the season. The puck will drop at 11:30 AM in the Flower City.
Jamestown Lakers 07 Blog 