Sylvan Lake Minor Hockey paid homage to the young athletes that have sacrificed their time and bodies for midget hockey.
On February 10, in a game where the midget Lakers were squaring off to face Cochrane in a regular season matchup - Sylvan Lake Minor Hockey held a ceremony to thank third-year players Reid Aman, Riley Judd, Michael Draegar and Nicholas Barkman for their contributions to the sport of hockey in Sylvan Lake.
The players were given plaques commemorating their achievement and a ceremonial puck drop was held to mark the occasion in traditional hockey style. The boys would then pose with their coaches before dropping the puck in a 6-6 high scoring affair with Cochrane.
The first goal of the game would not go Sylvan Lake’s way as Cochrane’s Colby Gulutzan would find the twine at the 7:20 mark of the first period.
Just over a minute later, as would be repeated throughout the course of this game, the Lakers would have an answer as team captain Reid Aman would notch his first goal of the game.
The tie would be short lived as Cochrane would score two quick goals from Curtis Scott and Bailey Peterson to bring the score to 3-1.
Aman would have the answer again with 35 seconds left in the period scoring his second of the game to end the first period at 3-1.
Sylvan Lake would quickly tie the game two minutes into the second period on a power play goal from Blake Carrick.
The tie would, once again, be short lived as Cochrane’s Ryan Gulutzan would bring the game to 4-3.
The Lakers, ever resilient in this affair, would tie the game again on Aman’s unassisted hat trick goal at 10:52 of the second period.
Scott would once again cool down the Nexsource Centre by scoring his second goal of the game, with the Lakers once again taking the lead from Cochrane 5-4.
The Lakers would simply not back down on their seniors night game as Trace Pidherney would score a short handed goal at 3:17 to bring the game once again into a tie 5-5.
Cochrane’s Devon Busby would end the second period with an unassisted mark at 2:02.
The third period would be a grind-it-out affair for the majority of the period, with the Lakers trying to will their way back into the game. Finally, with 2:51 remaining, Laker Evan Gringhuis would tie the game 6-6.
The game would end in an entertaining tie which saw Aman, Pidnerney and Gringhuis all notch three points a piece for the Lakers. Carrick would add two points of his own.
Lakers goalie Aiden Meier, #31, would stop 25 of the 31 shots he faced, while Cochrane’s goaltender Liam MacDonald would stop an amazing 41 Laker shots.
The Laker’s now look ahead to playoffs, with schedules unavailable at press time.
reporter@sylvanlakenews.com