The Mann Cup so far has been a battle of offenses as so far  the two teams have combined for 98 goals so far in this series. Last night the Peterborough Lakers evened up the series as Mark Steenhuis and John Grant Jr led the way for Peterborough in their 9-8 win. Steenhuis finished with a hat trick while Grant had 1 goal and 5 assists which was enough to gain Peterborough the win. Athan Ianucci was once again great for the Thunder even in the loss as he had 4 goals and an assist on Wednesday night in Langley’s loss. Brodie MacDonald also was great in net as he stopped 45 of 54 shots on net and kept Langley in the game.
For Langley heading into game 5 their main concern has to be defense as they need to find a way to slow Peterborough’s offense as they cannot expect MacDonald to stop 54 shots a game. If Langley is able to buckle down on defense their chances of winning game 5 will greatly increase. The Thunder have still having found success on offense but need to generate more shots on Mike Thompson in net for Peterborough as Langley only had 34 shots on net. Langley will need to pressure Thompson and force him to crack. Langley’s offensive trio of Athan Iannucci, Lewis Ratcliff and Garrett Billings have been stellar so far in this Mann Cup if they can continue to play well in game 5 I like Langley’s chances of winning the Mann Cup.
Peterborough has done a good job of battling back much in part thanks to Mike Thompson who came in game 3 and has been great since as he stopped 26 of 34 shots in game 5 which has allowed Peterborough to beat Langley. Peterborough’s defense has also been their strength as they have been able to hold Langley’s offense in check holding them to only 34 shots on net. If Peterborough can continue to limit Langley’s offense they will have a great chance of winning the Mann Cup. The Peterborough offense has been great as they have been able to generate offense. Peterborough has been led on offense by John Grant Jr and Mark Steenhuis who once again stepped up in game 5 to help Peterborough win game 4. For Peterborough if they want to stop Langley they need to slow down Athan Iannucci as he has been torching Peterborough’s defense.
As we head into game which should be another offensive shootout both teams need to look to their defenses because in the end defense will be the deciding factor in this series as both team’s offenses have proven to be even. If either team though can step up their defense then they will win the Mann Cup. Be sure to check in Friday as game 5 takes place at 8pm in Peterborough.
