The Lakers took on the Wolfpack of St. Ignatius in a thriller that went down to the wire. As the first period began, the Lakers came out flying, getting multiple opportunities to score just within the first shift. As the period progressed, goal chances were back and forth between the teams. There was no shortage of physical play out of the gates as heavy hits were thrown every shift. Unfortunately, late in the period with only three minutes left, St. Ignatius would strike first with a goal. Despite this, the Lakers were still ready to fight for a win during the remainder of the game.
With the second period underway, St. Ignatius seemed to dominate most of the play, getting multiple chances early on. With built up momentum for the Wolfpack, they would score again putting the Lakers down two to zero. With just under six minutes left in the second, penalties started to pile up for the Lakers as three were called against the team. Despite these penalties, it did not stop the Lakers drive to get on the scoreboard. With just thirty seconds left on the penalty kill, a sign of life came through for the Lakers, as Antioch senior Joey Deutschmann would score on a partial break away making the score two to one.
The Lakers knew going into the third period that they needed to strike fast to be back in the game. Grayslake North junior Riley Parpan did just that, scoring two minutes into the period tying the game up at two a piece.
As the period went on, the Lakers began to take over the plays and maintain puck possession in the St. Ignatius zone. There was still a lot of gameplay left, leaving both the fans and players on their toes. Adding on to his stellar game, Riley Parpan would light the lamp again late in the period scoring a low blocker with only three minutes remaining on the clock.
With the Lakers now taking the lead, the crowd and players were amped up, but there were still three minutes left for St. Ignatius to tie the game up. To the chagrin of the Lakers, a St. Ignatius’ player would be penalized for high sticking, putting them down a man with just above two minutes left. The Lakers powerplay would go unsuccessful, but their main focus was winning the hockey game.
With just under a minute to go St. ignatius had possession in the Lakers zone, with time winding down the Lakers iced the puck leaving seven seconds left. With the St. Ignatius’ goalie pulled, the Lakers would win the faceoff and ACHS junior Kieth Watkins would hold the puck on the boards for the remaining seconds of the game, as the Lakers secured the win. As the buzzer sounded the Lakers rushed their goalie ACHS senior Jack Davidson then saluted their fans.
With the Lakers finally finding themselves in the win column again, they hope to use this confidence and to win their games going forward. This game was a major upset as St. Ignatius is currently ranked first place in their division above the Lakers. ACHS senior Jack Davidson had a monster game, stopping 23 out of the 25 shots he faced.. With the boost in confidence, the Lakers look to use their momentum next Friday as they take on New Trier at 9:20 PM in Winnetka.
