Eagles Blow 3rd Period Lead, Lakefield Back in Series

Article by I. Schoonderbeek/Media by J. Martin

“That’s how we’ll lose if they beat us…we’ll end up beating ourselves.” Those were the prophetic words of Clarington Eagles coach Dean Baumhauer after game one of their second round series against the Lakefield Chiefs. A sentiment he repeated after their game two victory a couple nights later in Lakefield.

Monday night at Rickard Arena, the Clarington bench boss’s concerns regarding his club’s habit of taking unnecessary penalties proved costly. While Lakefield was only able to capitalize once on their seven powerplay opportunities, the steady stream of players to the box disrupted any chance for the Eagles to gain momentum in the game.

That, coupled with the fact the Eagles did not look particularly sharp from the opening drop of the puck proved to be a recipe for disaster. Clarington lost puck battles, struggled on faceoffs, and turned the puck over at an alarming rate. In short, they did not play like a first-place club.

The hard-working Chiefs have proven over the past two months that they are more than capable of competing with the top teams in the division. Despite being down 3-2 heading into the third period, their approach did not change. They managed to beat Clarington starter Oliver Webster twice in the third and added an empty netter to defeat the Eagles 5-3.

Despite not looking overly sharp out of the gate, the Eagles opened the scoring in the first period when Trevor Urquhart banged in a rebound in front of the Lakefield net.

Lakefield evened the score 21 seconds into the second period when captain Clayton Shaughnessy snapped a shot past Webster off a faceoff in the Clarington end.

The Chiefs would go ahead 2-1 midway through the second on the powerplay. The goal came after the Eagles had repeated opportunities to clear the puck from the zone but failed to do so.

Clarington evened things back up two minutes later when Jordan Shaw centered to Owen Manarin for a one-timer from the slot.

At the 13-minute mark, the Eagles pulled back ahead. Kyle Smith forced a Lakefield turnover on the play before eventually centering to Trent Gaylor who was streaking into the slot. Gaylor beat Lakefield starter Easton Rye but was levelled by a Chiefs defender after the shot leading to a brief scrum.

The chippy second period saw a total of 49 penalty minutes assessed between the two clubs.

Two minutes into the third, Lakefield evened the score back up at three after knocking a rebound past Webster.

The Chiefs scored the eventual game winner 14 minutes into the third when Alex Whitney picked off an Eagles breakout pass and was able to walk in alone on Webster. Lakefield added an empty netter with 18 seconds remaining to secure the well-deserved road victory.

After the game Eagles defenseman Ethan Schoonderbeek repeated Baumhauer’s concerns about the team’s play so far in the series. “Our lack of discipline has made it difficult to utilize the depth in our lineup,” said Ethan. “Not everybody kills penalties or plays powerplay. When we have a period like the second, we’ve got guys getting cold on the bench. We need to get back to our game and stop the individual play. We perform best when we’ve been able to communicate with one another and find each other on the ice.”

Despite giving up four goals, the first he has allowed in four playoff games, Webster was solid between the pipes for Clarington. He was called upon to make several difficult saves, including two breakaways in the game. “Webby had a great game…this loss wasn’t on him,” said Schoonderbeek. “Our goaltending has shined through this series so far and without them the results of some of these games could likely be very different.”

The clubs get right back at it tonight in Lakefield for game four with Clarington up two games to one in the series. Puck drop is 7:25 pm.