The Peterborough Century 21 Lakers had their five-game win streak snapped on Thursday night with a 9-7 loss to the Oakville Rock at the Peterborough Memorial Centre.
After going back and forth for the first 40 minutes, Peterborough led 7-6 in the third period. Tyler Hendrycks tied the game on an outside shot before Sam Leclair’s second goal of the the game gave Oakville a one-goal lead. Leclair scooped up a loose ball on the crease after Rose stopped the initial shot. Neither Rose nor the Lakers’ defence saw the ball just sitting there and couldn’t recover in time.
It was Oakville’s first win of the season after they started 0-3. Brampton is now the only remaining winless team at 0-5 after a 6-5 loss to Cobourg last night.
“We have to be more energetic on the floor, on the bench, getting on and off the floor, playing tougher D, pushing some guys around in the offensive end and putting the ball in the net,” said defender Mitch Ogilvie after a lengthy post-game team meeting. “Definitely not what we wanted and we’ll be better for next game.”
Ogilvie returned to the floor for the first time since sustaining a concussion in the 2024 playoffs. He missed the entire NLL season.
He had an early break away in the game after Dustyn Birkhof caused a turnover at centre, but was stopped by Oakville goaltender Landon Kells.
“(I was thinking) don’t fall. I didn’t fall. Definitely not a good shot though,” Ogilvie said, adding it would have been a nice way to mark his comeback. “Especially on Kells, I grew up playing with him my whole junior career and in senior. Would have been nice to bury one on him but he played a hell of a game.”
Kells returned to Peterborough for the first time since he was traded for Rose and played a strong game in stopping 47 shots. He kept the Lakers off the board for the first 10 minutes of the game and only allowed a pair of goals by the end of the first period. In addition to Ogilvie, he also made a transition stop on Colton Armstrong and robbed Thoma Hoggarth point blank. He and Rose went save for save in the first which ended tied 2-2.
Joe Resetarits waited until he was nearly behind the goal line before tucking the ball far-side past Kells to open the scoring. Brad McCulley had the period’s other Lakers goal, scoring despite being handcuffed by a defender.
Oakville led 6-4 after the second period. Thomas Hoggarth had a pair of highlight-reel goals for the Lakers in the frame, first getting in close and scoring with a high-placed shot and then driving across the crease for the second. Taite Cattoni’s spin shot goal was also impressive.
Making their Laker debuts were brothers Broedie and Dustyn Birkof, acquired via trade this week with Cobourg. The brothers, who are known to be tough customers on the floor, were born and raised in Peterborough and were thrilled to finally wear the hometown logo.
“It was awesome. The fans here are great,” enthused Dustyn, the younger brother at age 24. “Growing up in this town, it’s a dream come true. I’ve always wanted to play for the Lakers so it’s nice to finally do it and having my big brother here beside me makes everything better.”
Broedie, 31-years-old, called the moment surreal, especially considering that the brothers’ reputations for occasionally taking undisciplined penalties preceeded them.
“Going from public enemy number one or two-ish, being here now and having the fans cheer for us is pretty cool,” he said.
Neither brother saw the penalty box in their first game, and each played tough but disciplined.
“It’s bringing the tenacity and physicality to the game that people do like,” explained Broedie. “But now obviously having the Lakers jersey on and dishing that out to other teams is probably something the team will like a little bit more. For us it’s staying composed and staying within the rules. We can’t put our team at a deficit.”
